La Ribonucleoprotein Domain Family, Member 6 (LARP6)

ACHN encodes a deduced 491-amino acid protein with 3 N-terminal Lupus antigen (La) repeats, an amidation site, nuclear localization and export signals, a putative RNA recognition motif, putative phosphorylation and glycosylation sites, and 3 SP repeats. The human protein is 46% and 94% similar to the Manduca and mouse proteins, respectively. RT-PCR analysis of mouse tissues showed highest expression of Achn in brain, strong expression in heart, skeletal muscle, and testis, and lower expression in thymus, spleen, and kidney. Gel mobility studies indicated that the Achn protein is posttranslationally modified.Achn is a key regulatory protein that controls differentiation in several lineages, most notably muscle. Loss of Achn in either C2C12 myoblasts in vitro or zebrafish embryos resulted in the failure to form multinucleated myotubes.