mRNA sequencing of zbtb48-/- zebrafish

ZBTB48 (also known as TZAP) is a transcription factor that has previously been reported to be a negative regulator of telomere length in human cell lines. To explore whether transcription factor activity and telomere length regulation are conserved at the organismal level, we generated a zbtb48-/- zebrafish line via CRISPR-Cas genome editing. The zbtb48-/- mutants displayed no obvious physical or behavioral abnormalities in the first two generations. Although we found a tendency for longer telomeres in first-generation adults, these findings could not be statistically corroborated. However, for the gene regulatory aspect of Zbtb48, similar to that in human cancer cell lines, we observed downregulation of mtfp1 at both the mRNA and protein levels in the zbtb48-/- mutants. Further investigation of the spatiotemporal expression of zbtb48 in previously published zebrafish data revealed low transcript expression in diverse tissues, except in germ stem cells and gametocytes of the gonads. Notably, Mtfp1 downregulation was detected in the ovaries of 40 dpf zbtb48-/- mutants and in the testes of both 40 dpf and 10.5-month-old zbtb48-/- mutants.