Identification and molecular analysis of BANP

BTG3 belongs to a family of structurally related genes whose biochemical fu nctions remain elusive. In order to investigate the mechanism underlying BT G3-mediated functions, we tried to identify BTG3 potential partners. The us e of the yeast 'two-hybrid system', with BTG3 as bait, enabled us to isolat e BANP (BTG3 Associated Nuclear Protein). Other commonly used protein-bindi ng assays did not confirm this yeast interaction. However, BANP had never b een described before. and this prompted us to further characterise this gen e. In this paper, we present data on its molecular organization in mouse, t hen we speculate on the nature of this nuclear protein, and finally we loca lise BANP on the human chromosome 16q24 subregion; we discuss the fact that frequent loss of heterozygosity within this legion has been observed in di fferent tumours. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.