Meiotic human sperm cells express a leucine-rich homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans early embryogenesis gene, Zyg-11.

ABSTRACT: We cloned a human protein (Hzyg) homologue to Caenorhabditis elegans Zyg-11, an essential protein for cell division at the initial developmental stages of this species, and to a Drosophila melanogaster gene product (Mei-1) which is likely to be involved in meiosis. Hzyg mRNA encodes a protein of 766 amino acids (88 kDa), 14% of which are leucine residues, with some being arranged in four leucine rich repeat motives usually involved in protein-protein interactions. Hzyg is encoded by a single gene, located on chromosome 9q32-q34.1, and transcribed as two mRNA: a 5 kb transcript strongly expressed in testis and skeletal muscle and barely detectable in other human tissues, and an abundant 3.1 kb mRNA detected only in the testis. By using in-situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, we clea

SUBMITTER: Feral C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1865478 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature