Molecular cloning, expression and chromosome location of the human pelota gene PELO

The pelota gene of Drosophila melanogaster encodes a protein that was found to be included in cell cycle regulation. Mutations were found to result in spermatogenic arrest, female sterility and disturbances in the patterning of the eye. Here we describe the cloning of the human pelota cDNA (PELO) th at encodes a 385-amino-acid protein. Southern blot and fluorescence in situ hybridization analyses revealed that PELO is present as a single copy gene in the human genome and is localized on chromosome 5q11.2. Northern blot a nalysis revealed the presence of a 1.6-kb transcript in all tissues studied and an additional 2.0-kb transcript in testis. Copyright (C) 2000 S.Karger AG, Basel.