HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: PSG4
Cytogenetic location: 19q13.31 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 19:43,192,702-43,205,638 (from NCBI)
The human pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) are a family of proteins that are synthesized in large amounts by placental trophoblasts and released into the maternal circulation during pregnancy. Molecular cloning and analysis of several PSG genes has indicated that the PSGs form a subgroup of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene family, which belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily of genes. Members of the CEA family consist of a single N domain, with structural similarity to the immunoglobulin variable domains, followed by a variable number of immunoglobulin constant-like A and/or B domains. Most PSGs have an arg-gly-asp (RGD) motif, which has been shown to function as an adhesion recognition signal for several integrins, in the N-terminal domain (summary by Teglund et al., 1994).
For additional general information about the PSG gene family, see PSG1 (176390).
Teglund et al. (1994) noted that PSG9, which had been thought to be a novel gene, is in fact an allelic variant of PSG4 that differs by 6 bp in the coding region. (The allelic variant that had been referred to as PSG9 should not be confused with the PSG9 gene; see 176398.)
Teglund et al. (1994) found that the PSG4 gene contains 6 exons.
Studies by several groups resulted in the mapping of the CEA gene family to 19q13.1-q13.2 (Thompson et al., 1990; Thompson et al., 1992; Tynan et al., 1992; Trask et al., 1993). The PSG subgroup is located telomeric of the CEA subgroup, and together they span approximately 1.1 to 1.2 Mb (Brandriff et al., 1992; Tynan et al., 1992). Using a high-resolution restriction fragment fingerprinting technique, Olsen et al. (1994) assembled 256 cosmids spanning the PSG region on 19q13.2 into a single 700-kb contig. FISH to sperm pronuclei and cosmid walking experiments indicated that this PSG contig is telomeric of CGM8 at the telomeric end of the CEA subgroup gene cluster. Detailed restriction mapping and hybridization with gene-specific probes indicated that the order of the 11 PSG genes in the contig is cen--PSG3--PSG8 (176397)--PSG12 (PSG10; 176399)--PSG1 (176390)--PSG6 (176395)--PSG7 (176396)--PSG13 (PSG11; 176401)--PSG2 (176391)--PSG5 (176394)--PSG4--PSG11 (PSG9; 176398)--tel. The PSG genes are tandemly oriented in a 5-prime to 3-prime direction from telomere to centromere. The CEA subgroup gene CGM11 is located at the telomeric end of the PSG gene cluster, and 6 genes belonging to a third CEA family subgroup, namely CGM13 through CGM18 (later found to be pseudogenes; see 109770), are interspersed among the PSG genes.
Beauchemin et al. (1999) provided a revised nomenclature for the CEA gene family. Based on this nomenclature, the CEA family is composed of the PSG subfamily, the CEACAM subfamily (see 109770), and the CEACAM pseudogene (CEACAMP) subfamily (see 109770). PSG11, PSG12, and PSG13 were renamed PSG9, PSG10, and PSG11, respectively.
Beauchemin, N., Draber, P., Dveksler, G., Gold, P., Gray-Owen, S., Grunert, F., Hammarstrom, S., Holmes, K. V., Karlsson, A., Kuroki, M., Lin, S.-H., Lucka, L., and 13 others. Redefined nomenclature for members of the carcinoembryonic antigen family. Exp. Cell Res. 252: 243-249, 1999. [PubMed: 11501563] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1006/excr.1999.4610]
Brandriff, B. F., Gordon, L. A., Tynan, K. T., Olsen, A. S., Mohrenweiser, H. W., Fertitta, A., Carrano, A. V., Trask, B. J. Order and genomic distances among members of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene family determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Genomics 12: 773-779, 1992. [PubMed: 1572650] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/0888-7543(92)90308-f]
Olsen, A., Teglund, S., Nelson, D., Gordon, L., Copeland, A., Georgescu, A., Carrano, A., Hammarstrom, S. Gene organization of the pregnancy-specific glycoprotein region on human chromosome 19: assembly and analysis of a 700-kb cosmid contig spanning the region. Genomics 23: 659-668, 1994. [PubMed: 7851895] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1006/geno.1994.1555]
Teglund, S., Olsen, A., Khan, W. N., Frangsmyr, L., Hammarstrom, S. The pregnancy-specific glycoprotein (PSG) gene cluster on human chromosome 19: fine structure of the 11 PSG genes and identification of 6 new genes forming a third subgroup within the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family. Genomics 23: 669-684, 1994. [PubMed: 7851896] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1006/geno.1994.1556]
Thompson, J., Koumari, R., Wagner, K., Barnert, S., Schleussner, C., Schrewe, H., Zimmermann, W., Muller, G., Schempp, W., Zaninetta, D., Ammaturo, D., Hardman, N. The human pregnancy-specific glycoprotein genes are tightly linked on the long arm of chromosome 19 and are coordinately expressed. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 167: 848-859, 1990. Note: Erratum: Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 168: 1325 only, 1990. [PubMed: 1690992] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-291x(90)92103-7]
Thompson, J., Zimmermann, W., Osthus-Bugat, P., Schleussner, C., Eades-Perner, A.-M., Barnert, S., von Kleist, S., Willcocks, T., Craig, I., Tynan, K., Olsen, A., Mohrenweiser, H. Long-range chromosomal mapping of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) gene family cluster. Genomics 12: 761-772, 1992. [PubMed: 1572649] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/0888-7543(92)90307-e]
Trask, B., Fertitta, A., Christensen, M., Youngblom, J., Bergmann, A., Copeland, A., de Jong, P., Mohrenweiser, H., Olsen, A., Carrano, A., Tynan, K. Fluorescence in situ hybridization mapping of human chromosome 19: cytogenetic band location of 540 cosmids and 70 genes or DNA markers. Genomics 15: 133-145, 1993. [PubMed: 8432525] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1006/geno.1993.1021]
Tynan, K., Olsen, A., Trask, B., de Jong, P., Thompson, J., Zimmermann, W., Carrano, A., Mohrenweiser, H. Assembly and analysis of cosmid contigs in the CEA-gene family region of human chromosome 19. Nucleic Acids Res. 20: 1629-1636, 1992. [PubMed: 1579453] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/20.7.1629]