Zinc Finger Protein 480 (ZNF480)

The zinc-finger motif found in many transcription factors is thought to be important for human heart development and diseases. ZNF480 contains a KRAB-A box and 12 C2H2 zinc fingers.

The cDNA sequence contains an open reading frame of 1551 bp, encoding a putative protein of 516 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 57 kDa. Northern blot analysis indicates that a 4.7kb transcript specific for ZNF480 is expressed only in embryonic heart. In the adult tissues, the expression of ZNF480 is restricted largely to heart, skeletal muscle, pancreas, and placenta. Overexpression of ZNF480 in cells activates the transcriptional activities of AP-1 and SRE. ZNF480 may act as a positive regulator in MAPK-mediated signaling pathways that lead to the activation of AP-1 and SRE.