The gene for a RING zinc finger protein is expressed in the chick inner ear after noise exposure

We used the technique of differential display of RNA to identify genes expressed in the chick auditory epithelium in response to acoustic trauma. In the course of these studies, we identified a partial cDNA (amplicon) derived from the 3 untranslated region of cRZF , a chicken gene encoding a zinc finger protein with a Cys 3 HisCys 4 (RING) motif that coordinates zinc. We identified and sequenced human RZF and mouse Rzf cDNAs encoding the mammalian homologs of cRZF . The chick, human and mouse RZF proteins each comprise 381 amino acids, 85% of which are identical in the three species. Thus, the RZF gene has been conserved throughout vertebrate evolution. We also identified a cDNA that predicts a truncated mouse Rzf protein that lacks half of the RING finger domain. The human RZF gene is located on chromosome 3q between anonymous DNA markers D3S1557 and D3S1306.