Zinc Finger, X-Linked Duplicated Protein B (ZXDB)

A comparison between 1.2 kb of ZXDA coding sequence, which is contained within a single exon, and the corresponding sequence of ZXDB revealed 98.7% nucleotide sequence identity. Southern blot analysis detected sequences homologous to the ZXDA and ZXDB genes in a number of placental mammalian species. These data suggest that the ZXDA and ZXDB genes arose from a very ancient and highly conserved gene duplication. The predicted partial ZXDA and ZXDB proteins contain 10 tandem zinc finger motifs. Northern blot analysis showed approximately 6.5-kb ZXDA and ZXDB transcripts. RT-PCR detected ZXDA and ZXDB expression in all human tissues examined, namely heart, lung, muscle, fibroblasts, and lymphoblasts, with ZXDB expressed more highly than ZXDA in every tissue.