A Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene encoding a novel polypeptide with a predicted alpha-helical rod structure found in the myosin and intermediate-filament families of proteins.

We have identified a Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene encoding a 461 amino acid polypeptide containing a predicted alpha-helical rod domain found in filamentous proteins. This gene, here designated noc1, is located immediately upstream from cnx1, the gene encoding the S. pombe homologue of mammalian calnexin, an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone [M. Jannatipour, L.A. Rokeach, J. Biol. Chem. 270 (1995) 4845-4853.]. Transcription of noc1 is divergent from that of cnx1. Northern blot analysis identified a single mRNA of approx. 2 kb whose expression was increased by heat shock and growth in the presence of beta-mercaptoethanol and 2-deoxyglucose.