Virilizer: Proteins and Enzymes

The virilizer (vir) gene was discovered as a factor required for dosage compensation and sex determination in female flies. In drosophila it has been determined to function as a positive regulator of female-specific mRNA splicing. Database searches using the deduced amino acid sequence of the drosophila VIR retrieved a human protein BAA92667 (GenBank) which corresponds to the gene designated as KIAA1429. The human protein is 28% identical and about 40% similar to drosophila VIR and contains the putative transmembrane domain of drosophila VIR.