Polycomb Group Ring Finger Protein 1 (PCGF1)

PCGF1 is a mammalian homolog of the Drosophila polycomb group genes, which act as transcriptional repressors to regulate anterior-posterior patterning in early embryonic development. Nspc1 is first expressed 10.5 days postcoitum (dpc) in the otic vesicle, the anterior limb bud of the dorsal root ganglia, and the genital tubercle. At 11.5 dpc, expression was observed in the dorsal root ganglia, dorsal epithelium of the neural tube, heart, and branchial arches. The authors detected Nspc1 expression in a subset of neural crest cell derivatives, which give rise to the peripheral nervous system. The deduced 259-amino acid protein contains an N-terminal RING finger domain and shares 97.5% amino acid identity with mouse Nspc1, and 39% identity with both mammalian Pcgf2 and Bmi1.