N-Acetylserotonin-O-Methyltransferase Like Protein (ASMTL)

ASMTL (N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase-like), showing significant homology to the ASMT gene. ASMT is an enzyme catalyzing the last step in the synthesis of melatonin, a hormone that depresses body temperature and facilitates sleep onset by inducing the circadian rhythm.It is exclusively expressed in brain, retina, and pineal gland. Besides the homology of ASMTL to ASMT in its 3-prime part, the N-terminal part of ASMTL is similar to the entire length of the multicopy associated filamentation (maf) protein of Bacillus subtilis and to orfE of Escherichia coli, gene products involved in the regulation of cell division and growth. The bipartite structure suggested that ASMTL is the product of a gene fusion event, during which 2 different full-length genes are joined to form a single gene.