Family With Sequence Similarity 75, Member A7 (FAM75A7)

AEP1 is located in rat chromosome 17p14 with a transcript size of 3,091 bp encoding a signal peptide, zinc finger-like motif, coiled-coil region, several predicted glycosylation and phosphorylation sites. In postnatal rat testes, AEP1 mRNA became detectable from postnatal 25 dpp (round spermatids) and onwards. AEP1 was expressed in the acrosomal cap of late-staged germ cells in rat testis, and co-localized with the acrosomal marker, peanut agglutinin. The spatial expression of AEP1 immunoreactivity in testis was conserved among diverse mammalian species (rat, pig, monkey, human). In human testes diagnosed with hypospermatogenesis, lower expression of AEP1 was observed, whereas there was no detectable signal in undescended testes. AEP1 is an evolutionary-conserved acrosome-specific gene and likely functions in acrosome-cap formation.