title: A vertebrate homolog of the actin-bundling protein fascin.
abstract: Sea urchin fascin and the Drosophila singed gene product form a unique class of actin cross-linking proteins involved in the bundling of filamentous actin by an as yet unknown mechanism. From a Xenopus laevis intermediate pituitary cDNA library we have isolated a cDNA encoding a 53-kDa protein that shares approximately 36% amino acid sequence identity with both fascin and the singed gene product, and thus likely represents a vertebrate homolog of these actin-bundling proteins. RNase-protection experiments revealed that in Xenopus the gene is expressed in a wide variety of tissues but with the highest levels of expression in oocytes and testis. This raises the possibility that fascin has a role in microfilament dynamics associated with the formation and/or fertilization of vertebrate germ cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Holthuis
authors.forename: V T
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Schoonderwoert
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Martens
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015723:Gene Library; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009865:Oocytes / Q000502:physiology; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000502:physiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013737:Testis / Q000502:physiology; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C020324:fascin