We report cloning and some features of a novel human gene,MATH2, which encodes a protein of 337 amino acid residues with a basic helix-loop-helix domain and exhibits 98% similarity to mouseMath2. Results of Northern blot analysis revealed two transcripts of theMATH2 gene of 1.7 kb and 2.4 kb in human brain. We localizedMATH2 to chromosome 7 at 7p14-15 by matching with the Human Genome Sequence Database. HumanMATH2 and mouseMath2 may have the same functions in the nervous system.

The humansprouty 4 (SPYR4) gene was localized to chromosome band 5q32∼33 by screening the Stanford radiation hybrid G3 panel using aSPRY4-specific primer pair for PCR. Northern blot analysis revealed two different mRNAs (5 kb and 2 kb) in liver, skeletal muscle, heart, lung, kidney, spleen, placenta and small intestine. Reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis showed thatSPYR4 was expressed in all tested tissues to different levels.

We isolated a 4301-bp cDNA from a human foetal brain cDNA library by high-throughput cDNA sequencing. It encodes a protein of 341 amino acids, which shows 69% identity with the human kinase CLIK1 (AAL99353), which was suggested to be the CLP-36 interacting kinase. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that the putative kinase may interact with PDZ and LIM domain proteins. Therefore the protein and its cDNA were named ’PDLIM1 interacting kinase 1 like’ (PDIK1L; nomenclature approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee). Ensembl Genome Browser locatedPDIK1L to human chromosome 1p35.3. It spans about 13.7 kb and consists of four exons and three introns. Multiple-tissue cDNA panel PCR revealed that the gene is expressed widely in human tissues: liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, thymus and prostate. The protein appears to be localized to the nucleus.