Identification of a novel group of evolutionarily conserved members within the rapidly diverging murine Cea family.
The carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family comprises a still actively evolving populous group of proteins that are involved in controlling tissue homeostasis, immune responses, and host/pathogen interactions. The genes identified to date in rodents and primates exhibit low sequence similarity and an extremely variable domain composition. Among the 22 murine Cea-related genes, only for Ceacam1 has an ortholog been assigned. To identify all CEA-related genes in mouse, rat, and human we undertook genome-wide analyses. Eight of 9 new expressible genes (Ceacam12-Ceacam20) could be located within the approximately 6.5-Mb murine Cea locus. Five of the genes were rodent-specific (Ceacam12-Ceacam15 and Ceacam17). Surprisingly, for the remaining 4 (Ceacam16 and Ceacam18-Ceacam20) orthologs could be detected in all three genomes at syntenic locations. Gene-specific reverse transcription/PCR analyses of total RNA from 31 murine adult, placental, and embryonic tissues as well as tumors revealed very distinct expression patterns, suggesting diversified functions within the CEA family.
Zebhauser
Roland
R
Tumor Immunology Laboratory, Department of Urology, University Clinic Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians-University München, Marchioninistrasse 23, D-81377 Munich, Germany.
Kammerer
Robert
R
Eisenried
Andreas
A
McLellan
Andrew
A
Moore
Tom
T
Zimmermann
Wolfgang
W
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D012313:RNA