Alstrom Syndrome Protein 1 (ALMS1)

ALMS1 is located on the short arm of chromosome 2 (2p13.2) on the plus (Watson) strand. It is 224,161 bases in length organised into 23 exons. The encoded protein has 4,167 amino acids and molecular weight of 460,937 Da. Three isofoms are known. The protein itself has a large tandem-repeat domain comprising 34 imperfect repetitions of 47 amino acids.The gene is expressed in fetal tissues including the aorta, brain, eye, kidney, liver, lung, olfactory bulb, pancreas, skeletal muscle, spleen and testis. The protein is found in the cytoplasm, centrosome, cell projections and cilium basal body. During mitosis it localizes to both spindle poles.