Interferon Inducible Protein 35 (IFI35)

The cDNA encodes a 282-amino acid predicted protein containing a leucine zipper motif at the amino terminus. Unlike most other leucine zipper proteins, IFP35 lacks a basic domain associated with DNA binding. Northern blots showed that the 1.4-kb IFP35 mRNA occurs in fibroblasts, macrophages, and epithelial cells following interferon treatment. Western blots indicated that the IFP35 gene product can form homodimers and that there was increased nuclear localization following interferon treatment. Among the exons identified from a phage P1 artificial chromosome (PAC) that included regions from BRCA1 were several coding regions with 100% identity to IFP35. IFP35 gene situated centromeric to the BRCA1 gene in the course of sequencing and analyzing 117 kb of DNA from the 17q21 region.