Myotubularin Related Protein 8 (MTMR8)

MTMR8 encodes a member of the myotubularin-related family and is part of the MTMR6 subgroup. Family members are dual-specificity phosphatases and the encoded protein contains a phosphoinositide-binding domain (PID) and a SET-interacting domain (SID). Defects in other family members have been found in myotubular myopathic diseases.

The myotubularin-related genes define a large family of eukaryotic proteins, most of them initially characterized by the presence of a ten-amino acid consensus sequence related to the active sites of tyrosine phosphatases, dual-specificity protein phosphatases and the lipid phosphatase PTEN. Myotubularin (hMTM1), the founder member, is mutated in myotubular myopathy, and a close homolog (hMTMR2) was recently found mutated in a recessive form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy.