Tripartite Motif Containing Protein 44 (TRIM44)

TRIM44 has a calculated molecular mass of 38 kD. However, in vitro translation resulted in protein products with apparent molecular masses of 18 and 27 kD. Examination of the transcript suggested that these proteins were translated from alternative start codons. The full-length protein contains an N-terminal ubiquitin hydrolase-type zinc-finger domain, followed by a coiled-coil domain, a zinc-finger B-box homology domain, and a second coiled-coil domain near the C-terminus. Mc7 also contains several potential sites for phosphorylation and N-myristoylation, single putative sites for glycosaminoglycan attachment and N-glycosylation, and several PEST motifs. Northern blot analysis detected prominent Mc7 expression in adult mouse cerebellum, and also in cerebral hemispheres and embryonic mouse brain.