Inventors:
Gordon N. Gill - La Jolla CA
Richard C. Kurten - La Jolla CA
Deborah L. Cadena - Encinitas CA
Assignee:
The Regents of the University of California - Oakland CA
International Classification:
C12P 2156, C12N 1500, C07H 1700, C07K 1400
Abstract:
The present invention provides substantially purified members of the sorting nexin (SNX) family of proteins, which are involved in down regulating the expression of cell surface receptors and directing translocation of the receptor to a lysosome in the cell, as well as active fragments of an SNX and nucleic acid molecules encoding an SNX or an active fragment thereof. In addition, the invention provides nucleotide sequences that hybridize under relatively stringent conditions to a nucleic acid molecule encoding one or more members of the SNX family of proteins. The invention further provides vectors containing a nucleic acid molecule encoding a member of the SNX family of proteins or an active fragment thereof and provides host cells containing such vectors. The present invention further provides a method of modulating the expression of a cell surface receptor by expressing a nucleic acid molecule of the invention in a cell that can express the receptor. In addition, the invention provides a method of identifying an endosomal fraction of a cell by contacting the cell or a fraction of the cell with a probe, under suitable conditions, which allow binding of the probe to an endosomal fraction, if present, such binding being detectable.