Species Human Entrez 9760 | Human Mouse Ensembl ENSG00000198846 | |
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Aliases TOX, TOX1, thymocyte selection associated high mobility group box External IDs MGI: 2181659 HomoloGene: 8822 GeneCards: TOX | ||
Thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box protein TOX is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TOX gene.
Structure and function
The TOX gene encodes a protein that belongs to a large superfamily of chromatin associated proteins that share an approximately 75 amino acid DNA binding motif, the HMG (high mobility group)-box (named after that found in the canonical member of the family, high mobility group protein 1). Some high mobility group (HMG) box proteins (e.g., LEF1) contain a single HMG box motif and bind DNA in a sequence-specific manner, while other members of this family (e.g., HMGB1) have multiple HMG boxes and bind DNA in a sequence-independent but structure-dependent manner. While TOX has a single HMG-box motif, it is predicted to bind DNA in a sequence-independent manner. TOX is also a member of a small subfamily of proteins (TOX2, TOX3, and TOX4) that share almost identical HMG-box sequences. TOX3 has been identified as a breast cancer susceptibility locus. TOX is highly expressed in the thymus, the site of development of T lymphocytes. Knockout mice that lack TOX have a severe defect in development of certain subsets of T lymphocytes.