Regulator Of G Protein Signaling 7 (RGS7)

EGL-10 shares a region of homology with yeast Sst2p, which regulates G protein signaling, so they named the common domain 'RGS' for 'regulator of G protein signaling similarity domain'. The authors noted that several other proteins, including human RGS1 and RGS2, contain this domain. They identified additional human genes encoding the RGS domain by searching a database of expressed sequence tags (ESTs). They cloned a partial 1.9-kb cDNA, designated RGS7, that contains a 420-codon open reading frame encoding a protein with 53% identity to EGL-10. The homology between RGS7 and EGL-10 extends beyond the RGS domain. Northern blotting of rat mRNA showed that RGS7 is expressed primarily in brain, with lower levels in lung, as a 2.7-kb mRNA.