Transcription Factor Like Protein 5 (TCFL5)

Transcription factors containing basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) motifs play important roles in the regulation of neurogenesis, myogenesis, cardiogenesis, cell proliferation, and differentiation. By differential display analysis of PCR products from mRNAs isolated from 9 different human tissues, Maruyama et al. (1998) identified a testis-specific cDNA, which they designated transcription factor-like-5 (TCFL5), encoding a 452-amino acid protein that contains a bHLH motif. Immunohistochemical staining located the gene product exclusively in cell nuclei of primary spermatocytes at the pachytene stage. The authors concluded that TCFL5 may function as a transcription factor in spermatogenesis through binding to a specific DNA sequence.TCFL5 gene consists of 6 exons and spans approximately 24 kb of genomic DNA.