Homeobox And Leucine Zipper Encoding (HOMEZ)

The deduced 518-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of about 58 kD. By database analysis using the mouse sequence as query, they identified human HOMEZ. The deduced 549-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of about 61 kD. Within a 528-amino acid overlap, mouse and human HOMEZ share 77% identity. HOMEZ contains 3 atypical homeodomains, 2 leucine zipper-like motifs, proline- and serine-rich motifs, and an acidic domain. It also has a putative nuclear localization signal within homeodomain 2. In mouse, highest expression was in testis. During mouse development, widespread expression was detected at embryonic day 8.5 (E8.5), and expression became more restricted by E12. Epitope-tagged Homez preferentially localized to the nuclei of transfected COS-1 cells.