Zinc Finger Ran Binding Domain Containing Protein 2 (ZRANB2)

ZIS1 and ZIS2 correspond to the human ortholog of the rat Zis (zinc finger, splicing) gene. Comparison of the cDNA sequence with its corresponding genomic clone showed that both transcripts have an open reading frame of 1,011 basepairs, encoding a 337-amino acid protein. Due to differential splicing, ZIS1 has 10 exons while ZIS2 has 11. The 2 transcripts share the first 9 exons, but ZIS1 lacks exon 10 and instead has a longer exon 11 and a longer 3-prime untranslated region. Northern blot analysis identified 2 ubiquitously expressed transcripts of 5.2 and 3.2 kb. Two additional transcripts of 3.9 and 1.9 kb were seen at high levels in fetal brain and kidney. Both ZIS proteins have a zinc finger domain, a nuclear localization signal, an asp-glu region, and a ser/arg-rich region.