Identification of New Genes Expressed in a Human Erythroleukemia Cell Line

We cloned novel cDNAs from MB02 human erythroleukemia cells using PCR based approaches: a) Differential display by means of RT-PCR using one 5′ primer CTTGATTGCC and four different 3′ primers (T12AA, T12CA, T12GA, and T12AT). Ninety-three percent of the differential clones which were reamplified and sequenced were cDNAs of previously unidentified genes. b) Cloning using degenerate TFIIIA-like zinc finger domain specific oligonucleotide. Of the 54 clones sequenced, 20 contained two or more zinc finger sequences. Ten of these clones were new zinc finger cDNAs and one belonged to a known zinc finger gene (ZFP7). c) Cloning using degenerate tyrosine kinase(TK) domain-specific oligonucleotides corresponding to the highly conserved amino acid sequences IHRDLAA and DVWSFG. Of the 28 cDNA clones sequenced, 7 were JAK1 TK, one was atk TK, one was tec TK. The remaining sequences belonged to new ESTʹs or to ribosomal genes. d) Cloning using degenerate POU domain-specific oligonucleotides corresponding to sequence FK(QV)RRIK of the POU-specific domain and to sequence VWFCN(RQ)R of the POU-homeodomain. Sixteen clones were sequenced and all but one were identical with the Oct-1 transcriptional factor. Differential display RT-PCR and PCR-based cDNA cloning using degenerate primers for zinc finger motifs yielded the largest number of new genes expressed in MBO2 cells.