Zic Family, Member 1 (ZIC1)

The putative open reading frame is 1,344 nucleotides encoding 447 amino acids and is preceded by 530 nucleotides of a 5-prime untranslated region. Northern blot hybridization studies failed to demonstrate zic expression in any tissues other than nervous tissue. Within the central nervous system, the highest level of expression was in the cerebellum, whereas the olfactory bulb, diencephalon, and brainstem showed only low levels of zic expression. The zic gene has significant homology to the zinc finger domain of the Caenorhabditis elegans tra1 gene, the Drosophila cubitus interruptus dominant gene, and the human GLI oncogene . In situ hybridization demonstrated restricted expression of zic in granule cells and their putative precursors. It is also expressed in the dorsal half of the neural tube at early embryonic stages.