Retinoic Acid Early Transcript 1L (RAET1L)

RAET1L belongs to the RAET1 family of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-related genes, which are located within a 180-kb cluster on chromosome 6q24.2-q25.3. The REAT1 genes encode glycoproteins that contain extracellular alpha-1 and alpha-2 domains, but they lack the membrane proximal Ig-like alpha-3 domain. Most RAET1 glycoproteins are anchored to the membrane via glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) linkage.

The RAET1L protein has an N-terminal signal sequence, followed by an alpha-1 domain, an alpha-2 domain, and a C-terminal GPI anchor motif. It has several N-glycosylation sites within the alpha-1/alpha-2 superdomain. RAET1L shares 97% amino acid identity with ULBP2. The predominant RAET1L transcript was 1.5 kb. RAET1L was variably expressed in transformed cell lines.