Cloning, expression, and mapping of hWW45, a novel human WW domain-containing gene.

WW domain-containing proteins are found in all eukaryotes and play an important role in the regulation of a wide variety of cellular functions such as protein degradation, transcription, and RNA splicing. The cloning and characterization of a novel human WW domain-containing gene, hWW45, which encodes a protein of approximately 45 kDa consisting of 2 WW domains and a coiled-coil region is reported here. The murine homologue cDNA, mWW45, displays a different 3'-untranslated region and predicts a protein identity of 93% to hWW45. Northern blot and RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that both mWW45 and hWW45 transcripts are ubiquitously expressed in adult tissues. The mouse embryonic expression is first seen at 7 days post coitum in Northern blot analysis of whole embryos. Chromosomal localization by radiation hybrid mapping revealed that hWW45 is localized at chromosome 14, 10.31cR from the marker D14S269. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.