Testis Expressed Protein 19 (TEX19)

Tex19 is a mammalian-specific protein duplicated in mouse and rat, renamed Tex19.1 and Tex19.2, whereas only one form is found in human.Tex19 proteins are well conserved, showing two highly conserved domains that do not present any similarity with any other known domains. Tex19.2 is specifically detected in the male somatic gonad lineage, whereas Tex19.1 expression is very similar to that of Oct4. Tex19.1 transcripts were also detected in mouse pluripotent stem cells, and expression of Tex19.1. Human TEX19 was more closely related to murine Tex19.1 and was also detected in adult testis and in undifferentiated ES cells. Tex19.1 protein localizes to the nucleus of mouse ES and inner cell mass cells. Tex19.1, as well as human TEX19, could be a new factor involved in the maintenance of self-renewal or pluripotency of stem cells.