Stimulator Of Chondrogenesis 1 (SCRG1)

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are a group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases that include the human pathologies Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome), and kur), and the animal diseases scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. To identify genes associated with or responsible for the neurodegenerative changes observed in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, Northern blot analysis revealed that SCRG1 is expressed as a 0.7-kb mRNA and a much weaker 2.6-kb mRNA in normal human brain. The mRNA was found to be 3 times more abundant in the brain of a patient with CJD. SCRG1 is expressed abundantly in the central nervous system of human adult, but not at all in fetal brain. High levels of SCRG1 transcripts were also observed in testis and aorta.