We next asked if overexpression of ZNF804a in our neural progenitor cell cultures could alter the transcript levels of other SZ associated genes. We designed primers for the top 37 SZ associated genes highlighted on the SZgene.org website (Table S1; www.szgene.org/TopResults.asp; as of May 2011) [13] and assayed mRNA levels by qRT-PCR. Neural progenitor cell cultures where transfected for 24 hours with either pCAG-ZNF804a or pCAG-GFP (transfection control) followed by isolation of RNA. We observed a statistically significant increase in transcript levels for two genes (Figure 2, red; COMT 3.14±0.75 and PRSS16 4.64±0.2; Bonferroni corrected p<0.05; n = 5) and a statistically significant decrease in transcript levels for two genes (Figure 2, green; PDE4B −3.43±0.23 and DRD2 −3.17±0.43; Bonferroni corrected p<0.05; n = 5) relative to GFP transfected controls. These results indicate that ZNF804a expression can modulate gene transcription, however with these results it is unclear whether ZNF804a expression is directly and/or indirectly regulating transcription.
