title: Cloning and expression analysis of a novel mouse gene with sequence similarity to the Drosophila fat facets gene.
abstract: The Drosophila fat facets (faf) gene is a ubiquitin-specific protease necessary for the normal development of the eye and of the syncytial stage embryo in the fly. Using a gene trap approach in embryonic stem cells we have isolated a murine gene with extensive sequence similarity to the Drosophila faf gene and called it Fam (fat facets in mouse). The putative mouse protein shows colinearity and a high degree of sequence identity to the Drosophila protein over almost its entire length of 2554 amino acids. The two enzymatic sites characteristic of ubiquitin-specific proteases are very highly conserved between mice and Drosophila and this conservation extends to yeast. Fam is expressed in a complex pattern during postimplantation development. In situ hybridisation detected Fam transcripts in the rapidly expanding cell populations of gastrulating and neurulating embryos, in post-mitotic cells of the CNS as well as in the apoptotic regions between the digits, indicating that it is not associated with a single developmental or cellular event. The strong sequence similarity to faf and the developmentally regulated expression pattern suggest that Fam and the ubiquitin pathway may play a role in determining cell fate in mammals, as has been established for Drosophila.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia. svwood@cmcb.uq.edu.au
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Pascoe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ru
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirchenhain
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kemler
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Mattick
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013234:Stem Cells; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase; D014960:X Chromosome
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D010450:Endopeptidases; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase; C404328:Usp9x protein, mouse