The Gene for a Variant Form of the Polyadenylation Protein CstF-64 Is on Chromosome 19 and Is Expressed in Pachytene Spermatocytes in Mice

Many mRNAs in male germ cells lack the canonical AAUAAA but are normally polyadenylated (Wallace, A. M., Dass, B., Ravnik, S. E., Tonk, V., Jenkins, N. A., Gilbert, D. J., Copeland, N. G., and MacDonald, C. C. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. U. S. A. 96, 6763-6768). Previously, we demonstrated the presence of two distinct forms of the M_r 64,000 protein of the cleavage stimulation factor (CstF-64) in mouse male germ cells and in brain, a somatic M_r 64,000 form and a variant M_r 70,000 form. The variant form was specific to meiotic and post-meiotic germ cells. We localized the gene for the somatic CstF-64 to the X chromosome, which would be inactivated during male meiosis. This suggested that the variant CstF-64 was an autosomal homolog activated during that time. We have named the variant form "τ CstF-64," and we describe here the cloning and characterization of the mouse τCstF-64 cDNA, which maps to chromosome 19. The mouse τCstF-64 protein fits the criteria of the variant CstF-64, including antibody reactivity, size, germ cell expression, and a common proteolytic digest pattern with τCstF-64 from testis. Features of mτCstF-64 that might allow it to promote the germ cell pattern of polyadenylation include a Pro → Ser substitution in the RNA-binding domain and significant changes in the region that interacts with CstF-77.