Oligodendrocyte Myelin Glycoprotein (OMG)

In the course of efforts to identify the gene mutated in neurofibromatosis type I (NF1), Viskochil et al. (1991) found 3 genes embedded within an intron of the NF1 gene . The cDNA sequence of one of these genes encodes oligodendrocyte-myelin glycoprotein (OMG).

OMG is similar in genomic structure to 2 other expressed genes, EVI2A and EVI2B, which lie approximately 20 and 5 kb telomeric to the OMG locus, respectively. All 3 genes have the same transcriptional orientation and are contained within 1 intron of NF1, which is transcribed from the opposite strand. Whether altered expression of OMG plays a role in the clinical heterogeneity of NF1 remained to be determined.