Eppin is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

that in humans is encoded by the ''SPINLW1''

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

. This gene encodes an epididymal protease inhibitor, which contains both

kunitz Kunitz is the surname of several people: * Chris Kunitz (born 1979), a Canadian professional ice hockey player * Jaana Kunitz (Yaana Kunitz; born 1972), an award-winning ballroom dancer and fitness program creator * Matt Kunitz (born 1968), a telev ...

-type and WAP-type four-disulfide core (WFDC) protease inhibitor consensus sequences. Most WFDC genes are localized to chromosome 20q12-q13 in two clusters: centromeric and telomeric. This gene is a member of the WFDC gene family and belongs to the telomeric cluster. Alternatively spliced

transcript variants Alternative splicing, or alternative RNA splicing, or differential splicing, is an alternative splicing process during gene expression that allows a single gene to code for multiple proteins. In this process, particular exons of a gene may be ...

encoding distinct isoforms have been found for this gene.

References

Further reading