Myxovirus Resistance 2 (MX2)

MX2 has a nuclear and a cytoplasmic form and is a member of both the dynamin family and the family of large GTPases. The nuclear form is localized in a granular pattern in the heterochromatin region beneath the nuclear envelope. A nuclear localization signal (NLS) is present at the amino terminal end of the nuclear form but is lacking in the cytoplasmic form due to use of an alternate translation start codon.This protein is upregulated by interferon-alpha but does not contain the antiviral activity of a similar myxovirus resistance protein 1.the 2 Mx mRNAs that they isolated are distinct. Southern blot analysis of mouse-human cell hybrid DNA indicated that both are located on chromosome 21. The mouse Mx gene is located on the distal part of chromosome 16 in the region of genetic homology to human chromosome 21.