Heat Shock Protein Beta 9 (HSPb9)

By searching an EST database for sequences containing the alpha-crystallin domain characteristic of small heat-shock proteins, followed by PCR of genomic DNA, Kappe et al. (2001) cloned HSPB9. The deduced protein contains 159 amino acids. Northern blot analysis of several human tissues detected a 0.8-kb transcript only in testis. In situ hybridization of adult mouse testis showed expression of Hspb9 in spermatogenic cells from late pachytene spermatocyte stage until the elongate spermatid stage.Kappe et al. (2001) determined that the HSPB9 gene is intronless. By genomic sequence analysis, Kappe et al. (2001) mapped the HSPB9 gene to chromosome 17.