HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: STX8
Cytogenetic location: 17p13.1 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38) : 17:9,250,471-9,575,820 (from NCBI)
Most membrane fusion events in eukaryotic cells are mediated by SNARE proteins on the vesicle (v-SNAREs) and on the target membrane (t-SNAREs or syntaxins). See alpha-SNAP (603215). By searching an EST database, Steegmaier et al. (1998) identified mouse and human cDNAs encoding syntaxin-8. The predicted 236-amino acid human protein shares 23% identity with syntaxin-6 (603944). Like other syntaxins, syntaxin-8 is anchored to membranes by a C-terminal hydrophobic domain and appears to contain a helical domain involved in the formation of a SNARE complex (see SNAP29, 604202). Northern blot analysis revealed that syntaxin-8 was expressed as a 1.3-kb mRNA in all human tissues tested, with the highest levels in heart. When expressed in mammalian cells, syntaxin-8 colocalized with markers of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).
Steegmaier et al. (1998) concluded that syntaxin-8 functions as a vesicle trafficking protein in the early secretory pathway, possibly mediating retrograde transport from cis-Golgi membranes to the ER. Independently, Thoreau et al. (1999) isolated syntaxin-8 as a protein that interacted with the regulatory (R) domain of the CFTR (602421) protein in a yeast 2-hybrid screen.
By analysis of somatic cell hybrids and by fluorescence in situ hybridization, Thoreau et al. (1999) mapped the syntaxin-8 gene to chromosome 17p12.
Steegmaier, M., Yang, B., Yoo, J.-S., Huang, B., Shen, M., Yu, S., Luo, Y., Scheller, R. H. Three novel proteins of the syntaxin/SNAP-25 family. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 34171-34179, 1998. [PubMed: 9852078] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.273.51.34171]
Thoreau, V., Berges, T., Callebaut, I., Guillier-Gencik, Z., Gressin, L., Bernheim, A., Karst, F., Mornon, J.-P., Kitzis, A., Chomel, J.-C. Molecular cloning, expression analysis, and chromosomal localization of human syntaxin 8 (STX8). Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 257: 577-583, 1999. [PubMed: 10198254] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1006/bbrc.1999.0503]