Testis expressed 15

Testis expressed 15 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TEX15 gene.^[5]

TEX15
Identifiers
Aliases	TEX15, CT42, testis expressed 15, testis expressed 15, meiosis and synapsis associated, SPGF25
External IDs	OMIM: 605795; MGI: 1934816; HomoloGene: 12837; GeneCards: TEX15; OMA:TEX15 - orthologs
Gene location (Human) Chr. Chromosome 8 (human)[1] Band 8p12 Start 30,831,544 bp[1] End 30,913,008 bp[1]
Gene location (Mouse) Chr. Chromosome 8 (mouse)[2] Band 8|8 A4 Start 34,006,766 bp[2] End 34,075,610 bp[2]
RNA expression pattern Bgee Human Mouse (ortholog) Top expressed in testicle sperm secondary oocyte gonad right testis left testis body of uterus smooth muscle tissue ventricular zone ganglionic eminence Top expressed in spermatid lacrimal gland parotid gland cumulus cell Gonadal ridge seminiferous tubule zygote olfactory epithelium secondary oocyte primary oocyte More reference expression data BioGPS n/a
Orthologs Species Human Mouse Entrez 56154 104271 Ensembl ENSG00000133863 ENSMUSG00000009628 UniProt Q9BXT5 F8VPN2 RefSeq (mRNA) NM_001350162 NM_031374 RefSeq (protein) NP_001337091 NP_113551 Location (UCSC) Chr 8: 30.83 – 30.91 Mb Chr 8: 34.01 – 34.08 Mb PubMed search [3] [4]
Wikidata
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The TEX15 gene displays testis-specific expression, maps to chromosome 8, contains four exons and encodes a 2789-amino acid protein.^[6] The TEX15 gene encodes a DNA damage response factor important in meiosis. TEX15 is also a nuclear effector of the mammalian piRNA pathway, required for silencing of transposable elements within the developing germline. ^[7]

Animal studies

In mice, disruption of an ortholog of the TEX15 gene caused a drastic reduction in testis size and meiotic arrest in males.^[8] TEX15, in mice, is required for chromosome synapsis, meiotic recombination and DNA double-strand break repair.^[8] Furthermore, TEX15 regulates the loading of recombination proteins (RAD51 and DMC1) onto sites of DNA double-strand breaks, and its absence causes a failure of meiotic recombination.

Clinical significance

A mutation in the TEX15 gene was found to be associated with male infertility and meiotic maturation arrest.^[6]

Truncation variants of TEX15 are also potential breast cancer risk factors.^[9]