Family with sequence similarity 221 member A is a protein in humans that is encoded by the FAM221A gene. FAM221A is a gene that is not yet well understood by the scientific community. However, it appears that this gene may have a role in Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer.
Gene Location and aliases FAM221A is located on Chromosome 7. Its exact location is 7p15.3. It has one alias, which is C7orf46.
Expression FAM221A has higher levels of expression in the liver, brain, fetal brain, thyroid and colon, but FAM221A has the highest level of expression in the spinal cord, pancreas and retina.
The promoter region of FAM221A is 1222 base pairs long. This was found using ElDorado at Genomatix.
Protein Protein analysis The molecular weight of FAM221A is 33.1 kDa, and the isoelectric point is 6.01. Relative to other proteins in humans, FAM221A has a lower level of asparagine.
Post-Translational Modifications Post-translational modifications of FAM221A include phosphorylation sites, glycosylation sites and sulfation sites. These have been conserved in mammals other than Homo sapiens, including the macaque, whale, finch and sometimes alligator. These sites were predicted using NetPhos 3.1, YinOYang 1.2 and The Sulfinator.
Secondary Structure Key structures predicted in FAM221A are random coils and alpha helices, with 71% of the protein being random coils and 21% being helices. Extended strands were also found with 7% of the protein being these. Secondary structure was predicted using RaptorX, and a diagram of the predicted secondary structure is included below.
Homology/evolution Paralogs There exists one paralog for FAM221A: FAM221B. This diverged from FAM221A approximately 1781 million years ago.
Orthologs Orthologs have been found in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. FAM221A has also been conserved in invertebrates, but the similarity levels decrease at a faster rate. Orthologs were discovered using BLAST and BLAT. While these are not the only orthologs that exist for FAM221A, a table of 20 orthologs is provided below. The ortholog with no accession number was created using BLAT.
+ 20 Orthologs of FAM221A Species Common name Divergence (mya) Accession number Length (aa) % Identity % SimilarityHomo sapiens Human 0 NP_954587.2 298 100 100Macaca nemestrina Southern pig-tailed macaque 28.1 XP_011729478.1 298 96 96Condylura cristata Star-nosed mole 94 XP_004677186.2 284 90 94 Cervus elaphus hippelaphus Central European red deer 94 OWK06795.1 289 90 93 Delphinapterus leucas Beluga whale 94 XP_022440764.1 298 90 92 Alligator mississippiensis American alligator 320 KYO26809.1 366 78 86Phalacrocorax carbo Great cormorant 320 KFW96932.1 258 77 87Lonchura striata domestica Society finch 320 XP_021393915.1 298 76 85Pelodiscus sinensis Chinese softshell turtle 320 XP_014436679.1 236 76 85Gallus Gallus Red junglefowl 320 XP_418719.1 296 75 84Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile 320 XP_019390202.1 236 75 84Amphiprion ocellaris Ocellaris clownfish 432 XP_023141881.1 248 63 75Salvelinus alpinus Arctic char 432 XP_023832019.1 372 59 71Esox lucius Northern pike 432 XP_010891304.1 332 55 69Ciona intestinalis Vase tunicate 678 N/A 212 77 87Stylophora pistillata Stylophora pistillata 685 XP_022787363.1 344 58 73Schistosoma haematobium Uniary blood fluke 692 XP_012794504.1 241 45 61Crassostrea virginica Eastern oyster 794 XP_022337450.1 324 59 72Mizuhopecten yessoensis Patinopecten yessoensis 794 XP_021377417.1 326 55 70Phytophthora nicotianae Black shank 1781 KUF80258.1 297 34 48Chrysochromulina sp. CCMP291Chrysochromulina tobin1781 KOO33212.1 280 28 42
Divergence of FAM221A To understand the times when FAM221A diverged from different species, a graph was created. This compares the evolutionary history of FAM221A to Fibrinogen, which evolves quickly, and Cytochrome C, which evolves slowly. As seen in the graph, FAM221A diverges from other species at a moderate pace.
Clinical significance FAM221A has a relatively high amount of expression in the brain and has been seen to have an association with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. FAM221A has also been seen to have a higher level of expression in those who have prostate cancer versus healthy individuals. Furthermore, FAM221A has also been expressed in those with colorectal tumors.
Interacting Proteins Three interacting proteins were found, which are SNX2, SNX5 and SNX6.
SNX2 and SNX6 share the same function, which is being involved in the stages of intracellular trafficking. SNX5 facilitates cargo retrieval from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network.
References