EXPRESSION OF TESTIS SPECIFIC ANKYRIN REPEAT AND SOCS BOX-CONTAINING 17 GENE

Abstract
Human ASB-17(Ankyrin Repeat and SOCS Box-containing 17) is a recently identified gene belonging to the ASBfamily, isolated from testis cDNA library. Human ASB-17is expressed exclusively in testis among 16 tissues, revealed by Northern blot. Mouse Asb-17was shown to be expressed from the third week post birth to adult by semi-quantitative RT-PCRanalysis. In situhybridization on frozen sections demonstrated that Asb-17is expressed in spematogenic cells in adultmouse, but not in Leydig cell and epididymis in adult mouse. ASB-17proteins are highly conserved in mammals including human, mouse, rat, Canis familiarisand Macaca fascicularis.