Male Specific Lethal 3 Homolog (MSL3)

MSL3 encodes a nuclear protein that is similar to the product of the Drosophila male-specific lethal-3 gene. The Drosophila protein plays a critical role in a dosage-compensation pathway, which equalizes X-linked gene expression in males and females. Thus, the human protein is thought to play a similar function in chromatin remodeling and transcriptional regulation, and it has been found as part of a complex that is responsible for histone H4 lysine-16 acetylation. This gene can undergo X inactivation. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. Related pseudogenes have been identified on chromosomes 2, 7 and 8. The deduced 521-amino acid MSL3L1 protein shares 30% overall sequence identity with Drosophila MSL3 and 86% identity with mouse Msl3l1, which the authors also identified.