Npm3: a novel, widely expressed gene encoding a protein related to the molecular chaperones nucleoplasmin and...

We report the cloning and initial characterization of the cDNAs, gene, and pseudogene of Npm3, a novel murine gene that encodes a protein related to the nuclear chaperone phosphoproteins, nucleoplasmin and nucleophosmin. Npm3 is located approximately 5 kb upstream of Fgf8 on mouse Chromosome 19 and consists of six exons spanning 2 kb. The first five exons code for an acidic protein of 19.0 kDa that contains a potential nuclear localization signal and potential phosphorylation sites for several kinases. Npm3 was expressed in all mouse tissues examined. On the basis of the similarity of Npm3 to nucleoplasmin and nucleophosmin in amino acid sequence, protein features, and exon structure, we propose that Npm3 is a new member of, and may share basic functions with, the nucleoplasmin/ nucleophosmin family of molecular chaperone proteins.