GmZFP1 encoding a single zinc finger protein is expressed with enhancement in reproductive organs and late seed development in soybean (Glycine max).

The plant TFIIIA zinc finger proteins play important roles in plant growth and development. In this report, we isolated a single zinc finger gene, designated as GmZFP1, from soybean flowers by in silico mRNA subtraction strategy and RT-PCR. GmZFP1 is an intronless gene and encodes a protein of 210 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 23.5 KDa. GmZFP1 contains a single zinc finger domain and a DLN-box/EAR-motif at the C-terminus. To localize GmZFP1 mRNA in various tissues, semi-quantative RT-PCR assay was performed. GmZFP1 is expressed in all detected reproductive organs including flowers, developing seeds, pods, sepals, pistils with a low level, and more accumulated in petals, stamens, but not found in all detected vegetative organs with except of stem tips. Further, we found that the expression of GmZFP1 was higher in late seed development than in early seed development. To our knowledge, GmZFP1 is the first characterized gene encoding for single zinc finger protein in soybean, and may play a role as a transcriptional factor in reproductive organs development, especially functioning in petals, stamens and late developing seeds.