NEL Like Protein 2 (NELL2)

NELL2 encodes a cytoplasmic protein that contains epidermal growth factor (EGF) -like repeats. The encoded heterotrimeric protein may be involved in cell growth regulation and differentiation. A similar protein in rodents is involved in craniosynostosis. An alternative splice variant has been described but its full length sequence has not been determined.NELL2 open reading frame encodes an 816-amino acid polypeptide. The amino acid sequence of NELL2 showed 80% identity to that of chicken """nel,""" and Watanabe et al. (1996) stated that NELL2 may be the actual interspecies homolog of the """nel""" gene. NELL2 was strongly expressed as a 3.6-kb transcript in human adult and fetal brain tissues.