Zona Pellucida Binding Protein 2 (ZPBP2)

By genome walking in silico to identify genes linked to the ZNFN1A3 locus on chromosome 17, Katoh and Katoh (2003) identified ZPBP2, which they called ZPBPL. The deduced 316-amino acid protein contains an N-terminal signal peptide and a domain of almost 300 amino acids including 15 conserved cysteine residues that shares 38.1% identity with a homologous domain within ZPBP. ZPBP2 also contains 4 N-glycosylation sites. Analysis of EST databases indicated that ZPBP2 mRNA was coexpressed with ZPBP mRNA in testis, germ cell tumor, and brain medulla.ZPBP2 gene maps to chromosome 17q12-q21. Other genes at this locus include ZNFN1A3, GRB7, and ERBB2. Comparative genomics revealed that this locus is paralogous to the locus on chromosome 7p that contains ZPBP.