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Annakarina Mundorf, Jennifer Koch, Nadja Kubitza, Selina C. Wagner, Michaela Schmidt, Peter Gass, Nadja Freund

• Recent animal and human studies connected the \(\textit {Morc family CW-type zinc finger 1 (Morc1)}\) gene with early life stress and depression. Moreover, the \(\it Morc\) superfamily is related to epigenetic regulation in diverse nuclear processes. So far, the \(\it Morc1\) gene was mainly studied in spermatogenesis, whereas its distribution and function in the brain are still unknown. In a first attempt to characterize \(\it Morc1\) in the brain, we performed a Western Blot analysis as well as a real-time PCR analysis during different stages of development. Additionally, we detected \(\it Morc1\) mRNA using real-time PCR in different mood-regulating brain areas in adult rats. We found that \(\it Morc1\) protein as well as \(\it Morc1\) mRNA is already expressed in the brain at embryonic day 14 and is stably expressed until adulthood. Furthermore, \(\it Morc1\) mRNA is present in many important brain areas of mood regulation like the medial prefrontal cortex, the nucleus accumbens, the hippocampus, the hypothalamus, and the amygdala. The ample distribution in the brain and its molecular structure as a zinc finger protein indicate that \(\it Morc1\) might act as a transcription factor. This function and its expression in mood-regulating areas already in the early brain development turn \(\it Morc1\) into a possible candidate gene for mediating early life stress and depression.