The mammalian homologue of mago nashi encodes a serum-inducible protein

The products of at least 11 maternal effect genes have been shown to be essential for proper germ plasm assembly in Drosophila melanogaster embryos. Here we report the isolation and characterization of the mammalian counterpart for one of these genes (named MAGOH for mago nashi homologue). The predicted amino acid sequence of mouse and human MAGOH are completely identical; MAGOH homologues from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and rice grain Oryza sativa also show a remarkable degree of amino acid conservation. MAGOH was mapped to chromosome 1p33-p34 in the human and a syntenic region of chromosome 4 in the mouse. Of note, MAGOH mRNA expression is not limited to germ plasm, but is expressed ubiquitously in adult tissues and can be induced by serum stimulation of quiescent fibroblasts.