Alpha-fetoprotein related gene (ARG): a new member of the albumin gene family that is no longer functional in primates.
Alpha-fetoprotein related gene (ARG): a new member of the albumin gene family that is no longer functional in primates.
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甲胎蛋白相关基因（ARG）：白蛋白基因家族的新成员，在灵长类动物中不再有功能。
DOI：
10.1016/j.gene.2009.08.014
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Spear,BrettT
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Naidu,Sathyabama;Peterson,MarthaL;Spear,BrettT
血清白蛋白基因家族由白蛋白、甲胎蛋白、α-白蛋白（afamin）和更远的相关维生素D结合蛋白组成。这些基因通过一系列复制事件从共同的祖先产生，主要在肝脏中表达，并在已研究的所有物种中紧密相连。在这里，我们描述了白蛋白基因家族的第五个成员，我们命名为甲胎蛋白相关基因（ARG），因为它表现出最大的相似性，这个家庭成员。ARG在围产期在肝脏中被激活，但表达水平非常低。ARG基因在小鼠、大鼠、狗和马的基因组中存在且完整。相比之下，人类、黑猩猩、恒河猴和绒猴的ARG基因包含了所有四个物种共有的一些突变，这表明该基因在灵长类动物中至少有4000万年的时间是一个不活跃的假基因。小鼠肝脏中ARG基因的低表达和异常剪接表明，ARG可能比血清白蛋白基因家族的其他成员具有更小的功能意义，即使在它仍然完整的物种中。
The serum albumin gene family is comprised of albumin, alpha-fetoprotein, alpha-albumin (afamin), and the more distantly related Vitamin D binding protein. These genes arose from a common ancestor through a series of duplication events, are expressed primarily in the liver and tightly linked in all species where this has been investigated. Here, we describe a fifth member of the albumin gene family that we have named Alpha-fetoprotein Related Gene (ARG) since it exhibits greatest similarity to this family member. ARG is activated in the liver perinatally, but is expressed at very low levels. The ARG gene is present and intact in the mouse, rat, dog and horse genomes. In contrast, the ARG gene in human, chimpanzee, rhesus monkey, and marmoset contains a number of mutations common to all four species, indicating that this gene has been an inactive pseudogene in primates for at least 40 million years. Low expression and aberrant splicing of the ARG gene in the mouse liver suggests that ARG may have less functional significance than other members of the serum albumin gene family even in species where it is still intact.