Vesicle Associated Membrane Protein Associated Protein A (VAPA)

VAPA is present in the plasma membrane and intracellular vesicles. It may also be associated with the cytoskeleton. This protein may function in vesicle trafficking, membrane fusion, protein complex assembly and cell motility. Alternative splicing occurs at this locus and two transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been identified.Sequence analysis predicted that the 242-amino acid protein, which is 50% identical to the molluscan sequence, contains 8 potential phosphorylation sites, an alpha-helical coiled-coil domain, and a C-terminal transmembrane domain. Northern blot analysis of mouse tissues detected a major 1.9-kb transcript and minor 3.9- and 7.1-kb transcripts in all tissues tested, with highest expression in brain, testis, ovary, kidney and skeletal muscle.