Note that this locus is complex: it appears to produce several proteins with no sequence overlap.
Expression: According to AceView, this gene is well expressed, 0.8 times the average gene in this release. The sequence of this gene is defined by 97 GenBank accessions from 85 cDNA clones, some from kidney (seen 8 times), testis (7), brain (4), cerebellum (4), heart (4), pooled human melanocyte, fetal heart, andpregnant uterus (4), uterus (4) and 34 other tissues. We annotate structural defects or features in 4 cDNA clones.
Alternative mRNA variants and regulation: The gene contains 49 distinct introns (46 gt-ag, 3 gc-ag). Transcription produces 15 different mRNAs, 12 alternatively spliced variants and 3 unspliced forms. There are 6 probable alternative promotors, 4 non overlapping alternative last exons and 7 validated alternative polyadenylation sites (see the diagram). The mRNAs appear to differ by truncation of the 5' end, truncation of the 3' end, presence or absence of 15 cassette exons, overlapping exons with different boundaries, splicing versus retention of 2 introns.
Note that mRNA .bAug10 was found in vivo, although it is a predicted target of nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD).
Efficacy of translation may be reduced by the presence of a shorter translated product (uORF) initiating at an AUG upstream of the main open reading frame (in variant cAug10, dAug10).
Function: There are 7 articles specifically referring to this gene in PubMed. Functionally, the gene has been tested for association to diseases (OMIM: Bifid nose with or without anorectal and renal anomalies; Other sources: Abnormalities, Multiple) and proposed to participate in processes (cell adhesion, cell communication, multicellular organismal development). Proteins are expected to have molecular functions (binding, metal ion binding, sugar binding) and to localize in various compartments (cytoplasm, extracellular space, basement membrane, extracellular region, integral to membrane).
Protein coding potential: 11 spliced mRNAs putatively encode good proteins, altogether 11 different isoforms (5 complete, 4 COOH complete, 2 partial), some containing Lectin C-type domain [Pfam]; 2 of the 5 complete proteins appear to be secreted. The remaining 4 mRNA variants (1 spliced, 3 unspliced; 1 partial) appear not to encode good proteins.
Isoform FREM1.fAug10 is annotated using as Met a Kozak-compatible a..TTG. start, thereby gaining 175 amino acids N-terminal to the first AUG.

Please quote: AceView: a comprehensive cDNA-supported gene and transcripts annotation, Genome Biology 2006, 7(Suppl 1):S12

Alternative mRNAs are shown aligned from 5' to 3' on a virtual genome where introns have been shrunk to a minimal length. Exon size is proportional to length, intron height reflects the number of cDNAs supporting each intron, the small numbers show the support of the introns in deep sequencing (with details in mouse-over) . Introns of the same color are identical, of different colors are different. 'Good proteins' are pink, partial or not-good proteins are yellow, uORFs are green. 5' cap or3' poly A flags show completeness of the transcript.
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