Identification of a novel homolog of the Drosophila staufen protein in thechromosome 8q13-q21.1 region

We report the identification of a new transcript homologous to the Drosophi la staufen protein. This transcript, named STAU2 (HG;MW-approved gene symbo l and name), maps to the chromosome 8q13-q21 region. The full-length STAU2 cDNA is 4058 bp and contains an open reading frame of 479 amino acids. Anal ysis of the predicted protein product indicated the presence of three doubl e-stranded RNA-binding domains. Bestfit analysis revealed a 48.5% similarit y to the Drosophila protein and a 59.9% similarity to the recently describe d mammalian homolog hstau, indicating that at least two different transcrip ts with homologies to the fly protein are present in mammals, (C) 1999 Acad emic Press.