Tudor Domain Containing Protein 1 (TDRD1)

In a systematic search for genes expressed in mouse spermatogonia but not in somatic tissues, Wang et al. (2001) identified 25 genes, 19 of which were novel, that are expressed in only male germ cells. One of these genes, Tdrd1, maps to mouse chromosome 19 and encodes a predicted protein that contains 4 tudor domains is expressed in only testis and ovary. Wang et al. (2001) identified an orthologous, full-length human TDRD1 cDNA sequence. RT-PCR of several human tissues, including testis and ovary, detected TDRD1 only in testis.Chuma et al. (2006) stated that TDRD1 contains a zinc finger MYND domain in addition to the 4 Tudor domains. By immunofluorescence localization, they detected Tdrd1 in the intermitochondrial cement in mouse testis and ovary and in chromatoid bodies in spermatids.