RBM3, A NOVEL HUMAN GENE IN XP11.23 WITH A PUTATIVE RNA-BINDING DOMAIN

Using cDNA selection with a YAC from the Xp11.2 region, we have identi fied a novel gene (RBM3) that encodes a polypeptide with high sequence similarity to a group of proteins that bind to RNA, On a YAC contig m ap, RBM3 is located between OATL1 and GATA1/TFE3 in sub-band Xp11.23, and gives rise to alternatively spliced transcripts in a variety of hu man tissues, The longest open reading frame encodes a 157 amino acid p rotein with a predicted molecular weight of 17 kDa, Its putative RNA-b inding domain most closely resembles that of two previously characteri zed human RNA-binding proteins, YRRM, the gene for which has been impl icated in azoospermia, and hnRNP G, a glycoprotein, also identified as an autoantigen, The homology of RBM3 in both sequence and size to an RNA binding protein from maize, AAIP, suggests that it functions in a fundamental pathway conserved from plants to mammals.