DENSITY-REGULATED PROTEIN; DENR

Alternative titles; symbols

• DRP

HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: DENR

Cytogenetic location: 12q24.31 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 12:122,752,823-122,771,063 (from NCBI)

▼ Cloning and Expression
Deyo et al. (1998) isolated a cDNA corresponding to a novel density-regulated protein, which they designated DRP, from the human teratocarcinoma cell line PA-1. The DRP cDNA predicts a 243-amino acid peptide with consensus sites for N-myristoylation, cAMP- and/or cGMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation, and protein kinase C (see 176960) phosphorylation. Northern blot analysis detected a doublet of approximately 2.8 and 3.2 kb in a wide range of adult tissues, with highest levels of expression in skeletal and cardiac muscles. Western blot analysis using antipeptide antisera detected increasing amounts of a 70-kD protein in PA-1 cells concomitant with increasing cell number. Growth arrest effected by serum starvation did not induce DRP mRNA. TGF-beta (190180), which causes growth arrest in a variety of cells, also did not induce DRP expression.

▼ Gene Function
Schleich et al. (2014) uncovered the noncanonical initiation factors DENR and multiple copies in T-cell lymphoma-1 (see MCT1, 300587) as the first selective regulators of eukaryotic reinitiation. mRNAs containing upstream open reading frames (ORFs) with strong Kozak sequences selectively required DENR-MCT1 for their proper translation, yielding a novel class of mRNAs that can be coregulated and that is enriched for regulatory proteins such as oncogenic kinases. Schleich et al. (2014) concluded that their data revealed that cells have a theretofore unappreciated translational control system with a key role in supporting proliferation and tissue growth.

▼ Mapping
Gross (2014) mapped the DENR gene to chromosome 12q24.31 based on an alignment of the DENR sequence (GenBank AB014731) with the genomic sequence (GRCh37).