Fig. 1. Identification, predicted primary sequence, homology and expression of Zfp488 mRNA transcript in the brain. (A) Differential gene expression between wild-type and Olig1-null (KO) optic nerves was examined by mRNA differential display with duplicate samples. Arrows indicate the differentially expressed genes between wild-type and Olig1-null optic nerves. Red arrow indicates the position for Zfp488. (B) Zfp488 expression in the brain of wild-type and Olig1-null mice at P14. Upper panel, a northern blot of RNA extracted from brain tissues of wild-type and Olig1 mutant mice was probed with ³²P-labeled Zfp488, revealing a 3.5 kb mRNA transcript in the wild-type brain and its absence in the Olig1-null brain. Lower panel shows expression of the housekeeping gene Gapdh examined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR (20 cycles) as a loading control. (C) Predicted amino acid sequence of mouse Zfp488 protein, showing C2H2 type (boxed) zinc-finger domains in the C-terminal region. Potential nuclear localization signals are underlined. (D) Alignment of evolutionarily conserved zinc finger domains of Zfp488 among invertebrates and vertebrates.