Developmental Pluripotency Associated Protein 3 (DPPA3)

Developmental pluripotency-associated protein 3 is a protein that in mice may function as a maternal factor during the preimplantation stage of development. In mice, this gene may play a role in transcriptional repression, cell division, and maintenance of cell pluripotentiality. In humans, related intronless loci are located on chromosomes 14 and X.

The deduced protein contains 150 amino acids. Northern blot analysis detected a 1.2-kb transcript expressed in male mouse gonads at 13.5 days postcoitum. In situ hybridization of whole mouse embryos showed Dppa3 expressed initially in the gonads of both sexes, but expression was downregulated in female gonads by at least 13.5 days postcoitum. Embryonic mice deficient in germ cells did not express Dppa3.