Assignment of NUFIP1 (nuclear FMRP interacting protein 1) gene to chromosome 13q14 and assignment of a pseudogene to chromosome 6q12.

The fragile X mental retardation syndrome results from transcriptional silencing of the X-linked FMR1 gene (Imbert et al., 1998 for review). Two autosomal homologues of the FMR1 gene, FXR1 and FXR2 have been identified (Imbert et al., 1998). The two proteins FXR1P and FXR2P interact with fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) (Imbert et al., 1998). Recently, a novel protein interacting with FMRP has been cloned (Bardoni et al., 1999). This protein named NUFIP1 (Nuclear FMRP Interacting Protein1) is a nuclear RNA binding protein, expressed in the neurons of hippocampus, cortex and in Purkinje cells, like FMRP. NUFIP1 does not interact with FXR1P and FXR2P, suggesting a possible role in the definition of fragile X phenotype. In this report we describe the mapping of the human NUFIP1 gene to chromosome 13q14 and a NUFIP1 pseudogene to chromosome 6q12. Materials and methods