Homeodomain-only protein is a
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
that in humans is encoded by the ''HOPX''
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
.
It is an important regulator of
cardiac development and a
marker of
hippocampal
The hippocampus (: hippocampi; via Latin from Greek , 'seahorse'), also hippocampus proper, is a major component of the brain of humans and many other vertebrates. In the human brain the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, and the subiculum ar ...
neural stem cells
Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent cells that firstly generate the radial glial progenitor cells that generate the neurons and glia of the nervous system of all animals during embryonic development. Some neural progenitor ste ...
.
Function
The protein encoded by this gene is a
homeodomain
A homeobox is a Nucleic acid sequence, DNA sequence, around 180 base pairs long, that regulates large-scale anatomical features in the early stages of embryonic development. Mutations in a homeobox may change large-scale anatomical features of ...
protein that lacks certain conserved residues required for DNA binding. It was reported that choriocarcinoma cell lines and tissues failed to express this gene, which suggested the possible involvement of this gene in malignant conversion of placental trophoblasts. Studies in mice suggested that this protein may interact with serum response factor (SRF) and modulate SRF-dependent cardiac-specific gene expression and cardiac development.
Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding the same protein have been observed, the full-length natures of only some have been determined.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Transcription factors
{{gene-4-stub