The cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) has five beta-microseminoprotein genes, two of which are pseudogenes

beta-Microseminoprotein (MSP) is one of the most abundant proteins in human seminal plasma and is secreted from the prostate gland. Its evolution can be traced from primates down to nonvertebrate species such as amphioxus, despite substantial differences in the primary structure. Most mammals are known to have one single MSP gene, but we have previously shown that the cotton-top tamarin and the common marmoset-two New World monkeys-carry several MSP genes. In this study we continue our characterization of MSP genes in the cotton-top tamarin by presenting the full nucleotide sequence of the three previously identified genes, mspA, mspE, and mspJ. A promoter analysis using the luciferase reporter showed that mspE is as transcriptionally active as the single human MSP gene, whereas mspA and mspJ display no activity with this assay. Two novel MSP genes were also identified, mspB and mspH, both of which are pseudogenes. MspB has a frameshift mutation in the third exon resulting in a new C-terminus and premature stop of translation. MspH has the features of a processed pseudogene, originating from a transcript of mspE. It is integrated into the genome together with another processed pseudogene originating from a transcript of the nucleoporin gene NUP88. The MSP genes described in this study probably arose by phylogenetically rather late duplication or retrotransposition, suggesting that they are confined to a limited number of New World monkeys.