Family With Sequence Similarity 9, Member B (FAM9B)

By characterizing a region of chromosome Xp22 involved in a translocation with chromosome 10, followed by EST database analysis and 5-prime RACE of a testis cDNA library, Martinez-Garay et al. (2002) cloned full-length FAM9B. The deduced 186-amino acid protein contains 3 overlapping putative bipartite nuclear localization signals.FAM9B shares 65% amino acid identity with FAM9C), 46% identity with FAM9A , and about 30% identity with rodent Sycp3. Northern blot analysis of several tissues detected expression only in testis. Fluorescence-tagged FAM9B localized to the nucleus of transfected COS-7 cells. There was also faint cytoplasmic staining.Martinez-Garay et al. (2002) determined that the FAM9B gene contains 9 exons and spans about 9 kb.