Identification and characterization of the human MOG1 gene

Many of the proteins that mediate transport into and out of the nucleus hav e been structurally and functionally conserved throughout evolution. Here w e describe the sequence and characterization of the human MOG1 gene. The MO G1 gene was originally identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a multi-co py suppressor of conditional alleles of the yeast nuclear transport factor, GSP1 (scRan) (Oki and Nishimoto (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 1538 8-15393). A search of the expressed sequence tag database identified a puta tive human protein that is 2.9% identical and 47% similar to the yeast prot ein. Our experiments demonstrate that the human MOG1 message is expressed i n a variety of tissue samples. Several experiments indicate that the human MOG1 protein binds to both yeast and human Ran suggesting functional conser vation between the yeast and human MOG1 proteins. Furthermore, hMOG1a, like scMOG1, is localized throughout the cell but is concentrated within the nu cleus. Consistent with these findings, hMOG1a can partially complement the growth defect present in yeast MOG1 deletion cells. Taken together, our fin dings suggest that MOG1 is an evolutionarily conserved Ran binding protein that could play a role in regulating nuclear protein trafficking. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.