RNA Binding Motif Protein 7 (RBM7)

RBM7 encodes a highly conserved pre-mRNA splicing factor with an RNA-binding domain that is similar to that of SAP49 (SF3B4). RBM7 RNA was expressed in all tissues tested, with a unique shorter transcript expressed only in testis, and that rat RMB7 RNA was also widely expressed, with preferential expression in discrete cell populations within the brain.RBM7 expression in rat germ cells closely paralleled the entry and progression of meiosis. Expression commenced in type B spermatogonia, rose during the preleptotene stage, peaked in leptotene spermatocytes, and declined afterward, but increased again in stage-associated pachytene spermatocytes. Immunostaining with an anti-RBM7 antibody showed that RBM7 expression was nuclear up to the mid pachytene stage and became cytoplasmic thereafter.