Theg Homolog (THEG)

The deduced proteins, THEG-major and THEG-minor, contain 379 and 355 amino acids and have calculated molecular masses of 43.3 and 40.6 kD, respectively. Compared with THEG-major, THEG-minor lacks 24 amino acids encoded by exon 3. Both proteins contain several nuclear localization signals. RNA dot blot and Northern blot analyses detected a 1.5-kb THEG transcript only in testis. Immunohistochemical analysis of mouse testis sections detected Theg in the nucleus of round spermatids, but not in other germ cell stages or in somatic cells of testis. Transfected mouse fibroblasts expressed fluorescence-tagged Theg predominantly in the nucleus. Mouse Theg interacted with Cct-epsilon (CCT5), suggesting that THEG functions as a regulatory factor in protein assembly.