U3 Small Nucleolar Ribonucleoprotein 14, Homolog A (UTP14A)

UTP14A encodes a member of the uridine triphosphate 14 family. As an essential component of a large ribonucleoprotein complex bound to the U3 small nucleolar RNA, the encoded protein is involved in ribosome biogenesis and 18S rRNA synthesis. An autosomal retrotransposed copy of this X-linked gene exists on chromosome 13. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants.

The deduced UTP14A protein shares 77% amino acid identity with mouse Utp14a and 90% identity with human UTP14B. RT-PCR showed that the mouse Utp14a gene was ubiquitously expressed, and the authors found that human UTP14A was also ubiquitously expressed.UTP14A gene contains 14 coding exons. The mouse Utp14a gene contains 15 coding exons.