ZP4

Zona pellucida sperm-binding protein 4, ZP-4 or avilesine, named after its discoverer Manuel Avilés Sánchez^[3] is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ZP4 gene.^[4][5]

ZP4
Identifiers
Aliases	ZP4, ZBP, ZP1, ZPB, Zp-4, zona pellucida glycoprotein 4, ZPB2, ZP1B
External IDs	OMIM: 613514; HomoloGene: 49661; GeneCards: ZP4; OMA:ZP4 - orthologs
Gene location (Human) Chr. Chromosome 1 (human)[1] Band 1q43 Start 237,877,864 bp[1] End 237,890,922 bp[1]
RNA expression pattern Bgee Human Mouse (ortholog) Top expressed in oocyte secondary oocyte pancreatic ductal cell tibialis anterior muscle cartilage tissue mucosa of ileum deltoid muscle skin of thigh placenta pharynx n/a More reference expression data BioGPS n/a
Gene ontology Molecular function acrosin binding identical protein binding protein binding Cellular component plasma membrane membrane integral component of membrane extracellular region Biological process binding of sperm to zona pellucida negative regulation of binding of sperm to zona pellucida positive regulation of humoral immune response positive regulation of T cell proliferation positive regulation of acrosome reaction acrosomal vesicle exocytosis single fertilization Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs Species Human Mouse Entrez 57829 n/a Ensembl ENSG00000116996 n/a UniProt Q12836 n/a RefSeq (mRNA) NM_021186 n/a RefSeq (protein) NP_067009 n/a Location (UCSC) Chr 1: 237.88 – 237.89 Mb n/a PubMed search [2] n/a
Wikidata
View/Edit Human

Function

The zona pellucida is an extracellular matrix that surrounds the oocyte and early embryo. It is composed primarily of three or four glycoproteins with various functions during fertilization and preimplantation development. The nascent protein contains a N-terminal signal peptide sequence, a conserved zona pellucida-like domain, a consensus furin cleavage site, and a C-terminal transmembrane domain. It is hypothesized that furin cleavage results in release of the mature protein from the plasma membrane for subsequent incorporation into the zona pellucida matrix. However, the requirement for furin cleavage in this process remains controversial based on mouse studies.

Previously, this gene has been referred to as ZP1 or ZPB and thought to have similar functions as mouse Zp1.^[6] However, a human gene with higher similarity and chromosomal synteny to mouse Zp1 has been assigned the symbol ZP1 and this gene has been assigned the symbol ZP4.^[5]