TAK1 Like Protein (TAK1L)

By large scale screening of a human 18-week fetal brain cDNA library, Li et al. (2004) cloned C21ORF7, which they called TAK1L. The deduced 242-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 27.3 kD and shares homology with the C-terminal domain of TAK1 (MAP3K7; 602614). Northern blot analysis detected expression of a 2.0-kb TAK1L transcript in human peripheral blood leukocytes but not in 7 other tissues tested. PCR analysis detected TAK1L expression in all fetal and adult tissues tested with the exception of brain, fetal heart, and fetal skeletal muscle. PCR analysis of tumor cell lines showed TAK1L expression in breast carcinoma and colon and prostatic adenocarcinoma cell lines.Li et al. (2004) determined that the TAK1L gene contains 9 exons and spans 80 kb.