Structures of mouse Rep-8 cDNA and genomic clones

A mouse homologue of the human Rep-8 gene was cloned by PCR methods using degenerate oligonucleotide primers corresponding to highly conserved regions between human and mouse genes, and by the Marathon-Ready cDNA amplification method. The full-length mouse Rep-8 contains 1422 nucleotides and codes for a protein of 277 amino acids with a calculated mol. wt. of 31,519. The overall amino acid sequence homology between mouse and human Rep-8 proteins was 73%, and the overall nucleic acid sequence similarity was 65%. The predicted amino acid sequence of mouse Rep-8 has leucine zipper-like motifs in the N-terminal region, similar to the human Rep-8 protein. Rep-8 exists as a single-copy gene and is expressed in both the early and late embryonic stages of mouse development, suggesting that the Rep-8 gene product has an important role in embryogenesis. The genomic structure of the mouse Rep-8 gene was characterized extensively so that a gene targeting strategy could be used to develop an understanding of the biological function(s) of this interesting gene and its product.