Selective POTE paralogs on chromosome 2 are expressed in human embryonic stem cells.
POTE is a primate-specific gene family that encodes cancer testis antigens that contain three domains, although the proteins vary greatly in size. The amino-terminal domain is novel and has three cysteine-rich domains of 37 amino acids. The second and third domains are rich in ankyrin repeats and spectrin-like helices respectively. In humans, 13 highly homologous paralogs are dispersed among eight chromosomes. Some members of the POTE gene family have an actin insertion at the carboxyl end of the protein. The expression of the POTE gene in normal adult tissues is restricted, but several POTE paralogs are frequently expressed in many cancers including breast, prostate, and lung cancers. We show here that POTE is expressed in several human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines. We found that UC06, WA01 and ES03 cell lines express mainly a POTE-2gamma transcript but ES02 and ES04 cell lines predominantly express POTE-2alpha. The WA09 cell line expressed both POTE-2gamma and POTE-2alpha. There is no detectable POTE gene expression in fetal tissues (ages 16-36 weeks). The POTE paralogs that are expressed in ES cells may have a specific function during lineage-specific differentiation of ES cells.
Bera
Tapan K
TK
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Saint Fleur
Ashley
A
Ha
Duc
D
Yamada
Masanori
M
Lee
Yoomi
Y
Lee
Byungkook
B
Hahn
Yoonsoo
Y
Kaufman
Dan S
DS
Pera
Martin
M
Pastan
Ira
I
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D001374:Azacitidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002889:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000187:drug effects; D000077209:Decitabine; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; C530386:POTE-2alpha protein, human; C530387:POTE-2beta protein, human; C000603889:POTEE protein, human; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D000077209:Decitabine; D001374:Azacitidine