title: Identification of two novel primate-specific genes in DSCR.
abstract: We recently helped to complete the sequence of human chromosome 21 at a very high level of accuracy. Using this sequence we identified two novel genes, designated DSCR9 and DSCR10, in the so-called Down Syndrome Critical Region (DSCR) by computational gene prediction and subsequent cDNA cloning. Both DSCR9 and DSCR10 are expressed preferentially in testis and encode functionally unknown proteins with 149 and 87 amino acid residues, respectively. Zoo blot analysis suggested that both genes are exclusive to primate genomes such as chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, crab-eating monkey and African green monkey but are not present in other non-primate mammals including mouse, dog, cat, and chicken. Comparative genomic sequence analysis of DSCR9 and DSCR10 with the corresponding mouse syntenic region confirmed the lack of these genes in the mouse. These results strongly suggest that DSCR9 and DSCR10 have emerged as a new class of gene in the primate lineage during evolution.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Functional Genomics Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takamatsu
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.forename: Takushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Togashi
authors.forename: Dong-Kug
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Todd D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toyoda
authors.forename: Sumio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugano
authors.forename: Asao
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fujiyama
authors.forename: Masahira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakaki
authors.forename: Tadayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeda
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D016663:Cercopithecinae; D002645:Chickens; D002891:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21 / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004285:Dogs; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013552:Swine; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism