Lysine Specific Demethylase 5D (KDM5D)

KDM5D encodes a protein containing zinc finger domains. A short peptide derived from this protein is a minor histocompatibility antigen which can lead to graft rejection of male donor cells in a female recipient. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants.It was clustered with the Ube1y and the Zfy1 genes in a segment of approximately 250 kb. A homologous gene, Smcx (JARID1C), was found on the X chromosome. Expression of Smcy was detected in all male tissues and expression of Smcx in all male and female tissues tested. Remarkably, the expression of both genes was detected in pools of mouse preimplantation embryos as early as the 2-cell stage. They found that Smcy, like Sry and Ube1y, has been conserved on the Y chromosome since the divergence of metatherian and eutherian mammals some 120 million years ago.