Background of the antigen
The regulators of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins inhibit heterotrimeric G protein signaling. RGS proteins work by functioning as GTPase-activators (which increase the GTPase activity of G protein a-subunits) thereby driving G proteins into their inactive GDP-bound form. RGS21 (regulator of G-protein signaling 21) is a 152 amino acid protein that is ubiquitously expressed and contains one RGS domain. The gene encoding RGS21 maps to human chromosome 1q31.2 and mouse chromosome 1 F. Human chromosome 1 spans 260 million base pairs, contains over 3,000 genes, comprises nearly 8% of the human genome and houses a large number of disease-associated genes, including those that are involved in familial adenomatous polyposis, Stickler syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Gaucher disease, schizophrenia and Usher syndrome.
