WD Repeat Containing Domain Protein 48 (WDR48)

The predicted 607-amino acid protein shares 43% identity with a 77-kD worm protein containing trp-asp (WD) repeats.Within brain, expression was high in corpus callosum, caudate nucleus, and subthalamic nucleus and moderate in all other regions examined.The deduced 677-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 76.2 kD. It contains 8 potential N-terminal WD repeats and a C-terminal coiled-coil structure. Northern blot analysis detected a major 4.2-kb transcript and a minor 3.0-kb transcript in all tissues examined. Expression of the major transcript was somewhat higher in skeletal muscle, kidney, and placenta compared with other tissues. WDR48 had an apparent molecular mass of 80 kD by SDS-PAGE. Immunofluorescence analysis localized to WDR48 to late endosomes and lysosomes of Jurkat T cells.