Ligand Dependent Nuclear Receptor Corepressor Like Protein (LCORL)

Kunieda et al. (2003) cloned mouse Lcorl, which they called Mlr1, based on its homology with the honeybee transcription factor Mblk1. The deduced 517-amino acid protein contains a DNA-binding motif and a motif conserved in Mlr2 (LCOR). Northern blot analysis detected high expression of Mlr1 in testis, with lower expression in kidney, liver, and heart, and lowest expression in brain. In situ hybridization of adult mouse testis detected Mlr1 in nearly all seminiferous tubules. Mlr1 was highly expressed in spermatocytes, but not in spermatogonia or spermatids, and it was not expressed in testis of mutant mice lacking germ cells.Using a reporter gene assay, Kunieda et al. (2003) showed that mouse Mlr1 bound and activated transcription from the DNA element recognized by honeybee Mblk1.