Transmembrane Protein 69 (TMEM69)

TMEM69 is well conserved in a variety of organisms. Although most orthologs are found in placental mammals, some orthologs are found in bacteria and fungi. The most distant ortholog found to have sequence similarity with TMEM69 is Pseudomonas putida W619, which is a type of soil bacterium. Particularly well conserved in even the most distant orthologs, including Pseudomonas putida W619, is most of the second transmembrane segment of TMEM69. TMEM69 is expressed ubiquitously at low levels throughout the human body, although EST Profile data reveal that TMEM69 is expressed particularly high in neuroendocrine tissues such as the liver, amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus. TMEM69 was found to be expressed in lower than normal values in patients suffering from atherosclerosis.