Thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box protein TOX is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TOXgene.[1][2][3]
Structure and function
The TOX gene encodes a protein that belongs to a large superfamily of chromatin associated proteins that share an approximately 75 amino acid DNA binding motif, the HMG (high mobility group)-box (named after that found in the canonical member of the family, high mobility group protein 1). Some high mobility group (HMG) box proteins (e.g., LEF1) contain a single HMG box motif and bind DNA in a sequence-specific manner, while other members of this family (e.g., HMGB1) have multiple HMG boxes and bind DNA in a sequence-independent but structure-dependent manner. While TOX has a single HMG-box motif,[3] it is predicted to bind DNA in a sequence-independent manner.[4] TOX is also a member of a small subfamily of proteins (TOX2, TOX3, and TOX4) that share almost identical HMG-box sequences.[4] TOX3 has been identified as a breast cancer susceptibility locus.[5][6] TOX is highly expressed in the thymus, the site of development of T lymphocytes. Knockout mice that lack TOX have a severe defect in development of certain subsets of T lymphocytes.[7]
References
^Nagase T, Ishikawa K, Suyama M, Kikuno R, Miyajima N, Tanaka A, Kotani H, Nomura N, Ohara O (Apr 1999). "Prediction of the coding sequences of unidentified human genes. XI. The complete sequences of 100 new cDNA clones from brain which code for large proteins in vitro". DNA Res5 (5): 277–86. doi:10.1093/dnares/5.5.277. PMID9872452.
^Wilkinson B, Chen JY, Han P, Rufner KM, Goularte OD, Kaye J (Mar 2002). "TOX: an HMG box protein implicated in the regulation of thymocyte selection". Nat Immunol3 (3): 272–80. doi:10.1038/ni767. PMID11850626.
^Stacey SN, Manolescu A, Sulem P et al. (July 2007). "Common variants on chromosomes 2q35 and 16q12 confer susceptibility to estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer". Nat. Genet.39 (7): 865–9. doi:10.1038/ng2064. PMID17529974.CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
Nakajima D, Okazaki N, Yamakawa H et al. (2003). "Construction of expression-ready cDNA clones for KIAA genes: manual curation of 330 KIAA cDNA clones.". DNA Res.9 (3): 99–106. doi:10.1093/dnares/9.3.99. PMID12168954.CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
Sebastiani P, Wang L, Nolan VG et al. (2008). "Fetal hemoglobin in sickle cell anemia: Bayesian modeling of genetic associations.". Am. J. Hematol.83 (3): 189–95. doi:10.1002/ajh.21048. PMID17918249.CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
Ota T, Suzuki Y, Nishikawa T et al. (2004). "Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs.". Nat. Genet.36 (1): 40–5. doi:10.1038/ng1285. PMID14702039.CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)