Heat Shock Transcription Factor, Y-Linked 1 (HSFY1)

This gene encodes a member of the heat shock factor (HSF) family of transcriptional activators for heat shock proteins. HSFY1 is a candidate gene for azoospermia, since it localizes to a region of chromosome Y that is sometimes deleted in infertile males. The genome has two identical copies of this gene within a palindromic region; this record represents the more telomeric copy. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms. Skaletsky et al. (2003) determined that there are 2 palindromic copies of the HSFY gene within palindrome 4 of chromosome Yq. The HSFY gene is located in the male-specific region of chromosome Y (MSY), which is not involved in X-Y crossover events. There is no X-linked homolog of HSFY.