Evolutionary conservation and murine embryonic expression of the gene encoding the SERTA domain-containing protein CDCA4 (HEPP).
Cdca4 (Hepp) was originally identified as a gene expressed specifically in hematopoietic progenitor cells as opposed to hematopoietic stem cells. More recently, it has been shown to stimulate p53 activity and also lead to p53-independent growth inhibition when overexpressed. We independently isolated the murine Cdca4 gene in a genomic expression-based screen for genes involved in mammalian craniofacial development, and show that Cdca4 is expressed in a spatio-temporally restricted pattern during mouse embryogenesis. In addition to expression in the facial primordia including the pharyngeal arches, Cdca4 is expressed in the developing limb buds, brain, spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, teeth, eye and hair follicles. Along with a small number of proteins from a range of species, the predicted CDCA4 protein contains a novel SERTA motif in addition to cyclin A-binding and PHD bromodomain-binding regions of homology. While the function of the SERTA domain is unknown, proteins containing this domain have previously been linked to cell cycle progression and chromatin remodelling. Using in silico database mining we have extended the number of evolutionarily conserved orthologues of known SERTA domain proteins and identified an uncharacterised member of the SERTA domain family, SERTAD4, with orthologues to date in human, mouse, rat, dog, cow, Tetraodon and chicken. Immunolocalisation of transiently and stably transfected epitope-tagged CDCA4 protein in mammalian cells suggests that it resides predominantly in the nucleus throughout all stages of the cell cycle.
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, QLD 4072, Australia.
Jennifer S
JS
Bennetts
Lindsay F
LF
Fowles
Jennifer L
JL
Berkman
Kelly Lammerts
KL
van Bueren
Joy M
JM
Richman
Fiona
F
Simpson
Carol
C
Wicking
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D006224:Cricetinae; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000378:metabolism; D000939:Epitopes; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000737:chemistry*; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000092468:Bromodomain Containing Proteins
D000939:Epitopes; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C485730:Sertad1 protein, mouse; D000092468:Bromodomain Containing Proteins; C040297:pentigide