title: Isolation and expression pattern of RGS21 gene, a novel RGS member.
abstract: Regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins are known for the RGS domain that is composed of a conserved stretch of 120 amino acids, which binds directly to activated G-protein alpha subunits and acts as a GTPase-activating protein (GAP), leading to their deactivation and termination of downstream signals. In this study, a novel human RGS cDNA (RGS21), 1795 bp long and encoding a 152-amino acid polypeptide, was isolated by large-scale sequencing analysis of a human fetal brain cDNA library. Unlike other RGS family members, RGS21 gene has no additional domain/motif and may represent the smallest known member of RGS family. It may belong to the B/R4 subfamily, which suggests that it may serve exclusively as a negative regulator of alphai/o family members and/or alphaq/11. PCR analysis showed that RGS21 mRNA was expressed ubiquitously in the 16 tissues examined, implying general physiological roles.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chaoneng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiefeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xianqiong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Yumin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D020555:GTP-Binding Protein Regulators / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020710:RGS Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D020555:GTP-Binding Protein Regulators; D020710:RGS Proteins; C512065:RGS21 protein, human; D012333:RNA, Messenger