Tyrosine 3/Tryptophan 5 Monooxygenase Activation Protein Theta (YWHAq)

YWHAq product belongs to the 14-3-3 family of proteins which mediate signal transduction by binding to phosphoserine-containing proteins. This highly conserved protein family is found in both plants and mammals, and this protein is 99% identical to the mouse and rat orthologs. This gene is upregulated in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It contains in its 5' UTR a 6 bp tandem repeat sequence which is polymorphic, however, there is no correlation between the repeat number and the disease.The deduced 245-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 28 kD and shares 72% amino acid identity with bovine brain 14-3-3-eta. Northern blot analysis of Jurkat and HeLa cells showed strong bands at 1.9 and 2.1 kb, and a weaker band at 1.7 kb.