DAZ (Deleted in Azoospermia) proteins are found almost exclusively in germ
cells in distant animal species. Deletion or mutations of their encoding genes
usually impair either oogenesis or spermatogenesis or both. The family
includes three members, Boule (or Boll), Dazl (or Dazla) and DAZ, encoding
RNA binding proteins. Boule is the ancestral gene that is conserved from flies
to humans, whereas, Dazl arose in the early vertebrate lineage and Daz arrived
on Y chromosome during primate evolution. Basically, DAZ family proteins have
been proposed to function as adaptors for target mRNA transport and activators
of their translation. These proteins have a highly conserved RNA recognition
motif (RRM) (see <PDOC00030>) for binding target mRNAs and one (Boule and
Dazl) or multiple copies (Daz) of the DAZ domain, a 24 amino acids motif rich
in Asn, Tyr, and Gln residues. The function of the DAZ domain is not known,
but may be involved in protein-protein interactions [1,2,3,4,5].
The profile we developed covers the entire DAZ domain.
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