Projects / Programmes
Zinc finger 714 as a potential biomarker of suicidal behaviour
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 3.09.00 |
Medical sciences |
Psychiatry |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 3.02 |
Medical and Health Sciences |
Clinical medicine |
suicidal behaviour, biomarker, psychiatry, epigenetics, suicide by hanging, zinc finger 714, candidate gene, next generation sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation, bioinformatics, protein expression
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
38237 |
PhD Katarina Kouter |
Biochemistry and molecular biology |
Head |
2020 - 2023 |
84 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Suicidal behaviour is a grave public health problem with nearly one million lives lost each year. Despite the decline in suicide rate, Slovenia is still ranked as a country with one of the highest rates of suicide. In previous DNA methylation studies on Slovenian suicide victims we identified zinc finger protein 714 (ZNF714) as a potential biomarker. Besides being differentially methylated in suicide victims it showed remarkable similarity in the methylation pattern between four different brain regions and blood. ZNF714 and its DNA methylation pattern could therefore be used as a blood marker of suicidal behaviour. Little is known about ZNF714 and its role in cellular processes. Gene ontology terms associate it with DNA binding and transcriptional regulation. Based on the knowledge of the protein domain structure, ZNF714 could be implicated in gene silencing via mechanism of posttranslational histone modification. However, the genes to which ZNF714 would bind in the case of transcriptional regulation are unknown. Therefore, the aim of this project is the molecular investigation of ZNF714 on a genetic, epigenetic and protein level using tissue samples of suicide victims and control group. Proposed project will be carried out through 5 main work packages, which include chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq), protein expression level analysis and re-analysis of existing sequencing data. Results, collected through work packages, will characterise the ZNF714 protein binding motif and genes, on which it binds; and analyse protein expression level of ZNF714 and its potential protein binding partners, involved in transcriptional regulation. Finally, the existing data will be re-analysed, focusing on the ZNF714 gene and the genomic regions identified with ChIP-seq (regions of the genome on which the ZNF714 protein binds). In addition to DNA methylation we will analyse the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and atypical non-CpG methylation (potentially methylated cytosines are not followed by guanine as usual but by some other base). The purpose of this project is therefore to gain a better understanding of ZNF714, which will allow possible clinical collaboration and future use of biomarkers in psychiatry.
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