Testis Expressed Protein 1 (TEX1)

TEX1 is part of the TREX (transcription/export) complex, which includes THO2, HPR1, ALY, and UAP56. By SDS-PAGE analysis of a 45-kD protein from nuclear extracts that interacted in pull-down assays with UAP56, followed by database searching, Strasser et al. (2002) obtained a full-length cDNA encoding TEX1. The predicted protein contains 351 amino acids and is conserved from yeast to humans.

Functional studies in yeast led Strasser et al. (2002) to conclude that the TREX complex is specifically recruited to the transcribing gene and travels with the polymerase during transcriptional elongation. They suggested that it physically links proteins that function in mRNA export or transcription.