Octamer Binding Transcription Factor 8 (OCT8)

POU3F3 is a member of the class III POU family of transcription factors that are expressed in the central nervous system. The POU domain in these proteins is required for high affinity binding to octamer DNA sequences.the POU3F3 gene is intronless and is GC rich (73.9%) throughout the coding region.

Using rat class III Pou sequences as probe to screen a human genomic DNA library, Sumiyama et al. (1996) cloned POU3F3. The deduced 500-amino acid protein contains a C-terminal POU-specific domain and POU homeodomain. Several amino acid residues are repeated in the regions outside the POU domain, including alanine, glycine, proline, glutamine, and histidine. POU3F3 shows a high degree of similarity with mouse Brn1.