MSH4 antibody

Background of MSH4 antibody

Six strong homologs of the bacterial MutS DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene have been identified in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. With the exception of the MSH1 gene, the involvement of each homolog in DNA repair and recombination during meiosis has been determined previously. Five of the homologs have been demonstrated to act in meiotic DNA repair (MSH2, MSH3, MSH6 and MSH4) and/or meiotic recombination (MSH4 and MSH5). Several strong homologs of bacterial MutS DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes have been identified (MSH1-MSH6), with the exception of the MSH1 gene, all others have significant role in recombination and DNA repair during meiosis.
MSH4, a meiosis-specific member of the MutS-homolog family of genes, is required for normal levels of recombination and fertility in budding yeast, mouse, and Caenorhabditis elegans. The arabipdosis specific homolog of MSH4 (AtMSH4) in reproduction was characterized in floral tissues (1). The expression of MSH4 in A thaliana is limited to early meiotic phase I preceding the synapsis of homologous chromosomes. The insertion of AT-DNA mutant (ATmsh4) exhibited normal vegetative growth but significant reduction in fertility consistent with meiotic defect which was further confirmed by cytological staining of meiosis. Similar reduction in meiosis was observed with RNAi dependent down regulation of MSH4 which is the result of delayed or incomplete prophase I chromosome sysnapsis and metaphase chiasma frequency is greatly reduced compared to wild type leading to univalence and nondisjunction in budding yeast (1).
MSH4 protein has several function domains in cluding MutS domain III which is found in MutS family of DNA mismatch repair protein and is found associated with pfam00488, pfam05188, pfam01624 and pfam05190; pfam05192. The MutS1 homolog in eukaryotes. The MutS protein initiates DNA mismatch repair by recognizing mispaired and unpaired bases embedded in duplex DNA and activating endo- and exonucleases to remove the mismatch. A thaliana MSH4 protein is a 792 amino acid (98-100kDa) protein expressed din nuclear compartment.