IDENTIFICATION OF A GENE WITHIN THE TANDEM ARRAY OF RED AND GREEN COLOR PIGMENT GENES

The tandem array of color pigment genes on chromosome Xq28 contains ne sted exons of a distinct gene, This gene (termed TEX28) is composed of five exons that span almost the entire distance between the protein-c oding regions of the color pigment genes and a transketolase-related g ene. Although most of the TEX28 gene is repeated within the color pigm ent gene array, the exclusion of exon 1 from the array is predicted to restrict transcription to a single copy of the gene. The TEX28 gene e ncodes a polypeptide of 410 amino acid residues. This polypeptide does not display significant homology with any known proteins in public da tabases. Transcripts of the gene (1.8 kb) were detected in testes, but not in any other tissue examined. Color vision disorders that result from the deletion of color pigment genes should be reappraised for ass ociated phenotypes that may derive from disruption of the TEX28 gene. (C) 1997 Academic Press.