The Trypanosoma brucei zinc finger protein ZC3H18 is involved in differentiation.

In mammalian cells, the degradation of mRNAs that have AU-rich elements in their 3'-untranslated regions is accelerated by the binding of proteins that contain two CCCH-zinc-finger-domains. Three CCCH zinc-finger proteins, TbZFP1, TbZFP2, and TbZFP3, have been shown to have roles in trypanosome differentiation. We here studied another protein, ZC3H18, which has two CCCH zinc finger domains. The ZC3H18 gene is not essential in bloodstream forms, but in an in vitro model of differentiation, depletion of ZC3H18 delayed the transformation of bloodstream-form trypanosomes to the procyclic form that grows in the Tsetse fly.