Zinc Finger And SCAN Domain Containing Protein 4 (ZSCAN4)

The ZSCAN4 gene encodes a protein involved in telomere maintenance and with a key role in the critical feature of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, namely, defying cellular senescence and maintaining normal karyotype for many cell divisions in culture.

ZSCAN4 is involved in telomere maintenance and long-term genomic stability in ES cells. Only 5% of mouse ES cells expressed Zscan4 at a given time, but nearly all ES cells activated Zscan4 at least once during 9 passages. The transient Zscan4-positive state was associated with rapid telomere extension by telomere recombination and upregulation of meiosis-specific homologous recombination genes, which encode proteins that were colocalized with Zscan4 on telomeres.