Five POTE paralogs and their splice variants are expressed in human prostate and encode proteins of different lengths.

POTE is a new gene that contains ankyrin and spectrin domains and is expressed in prostate, testis, ovary, and placenta. In humans, 10 highly homologous variants of the gene are dispersed among eight chromosomes. POTE paralogs are detected in primates but not in other species. Using prostate RNA, we characterized cDNAs from five paralogs and their splice variants. The proteins encoded by the POTE paralogs and their variants range from 80 to 32 kDa. Transfection of POTE constructs into 293T cells shows that the POTE protein, like spectrin, is localized on the inner aspect of the plasma membrane. We also detect a noncoding transcript expressed on the opposite strand from POTE on chromosome 14 or 22. We speculate that POTE has an important signaling function in the reproductive system.