A Novel Human Lipid Binding Protein Coding Gene: PERF15, Sequence and Cloning

Introduction: PERF15 is a testicular germ-cell specific fatty-acid binding protein (FABP) isolated from mammals, originally from rats. It encodes one of the most abundant proteins of rat spermatozoa localized in the perinuclear theca. Northern blot analysis has demonstrated that rat PERF15 mRNA is exclusively transcribed during meiosis and post-meiosis. In this study, we cloned and sequenced human PERF15 gene.

Materials and methods: According to the open reading frame of automated computational analysis of Homo sapiens similar to testis fatty acid binding protein nine, two specific Primers were designed to amplify human PERF15 gene. To confirm the identity of the amplified gene, PCR products of PERF15 were cloned into appropriate plasmid vectors followed by sequencing of the inserts.

Results: A unique band of ∼3kb was obtained after PCR amplification. Restriction enzyme digestion using PvuII confirmed that the fragment was related to PERF15. Gene alignment, direct sequencing and application of specific primers to the gene showed 100% similarity between this gene and the computational data by gel extraction of the ∼3 kb band. The human PERF15 gene contained four exons and three introns. Exons one, two, three and four, respectively, coded for 24, 57, 34 and 17 amino acids. The existing three introns were composed of 2113, 461, and 168 nucleotides.

Conclusion: In spite of the homology between exonic regions and exon-intron boundaries of human PERF15 gene and that of animals, human PERF15 gene is different in size and sequence from corresponding introns in rat and murine PERF15.