May play a role in testicular development/spermatogenesis and may be an important factor in male infertility.
Subcellular locations: Membrane
Highly expressed in testes and pancreas. Low levels found in the heart, lungs, and brain. Very low expression detected in the placenta. No expression seen in skeletal muscle, liver, kidney, thymus, small intestine, colons, spleen, leukocytes, prostate gland, and ovary. In the adult testes, expression was about 6.44-fold higher than in the embryo testes. No expression in testes of patients with Sertoli-cell-only syndrome. In patients with arrest at spermatogonium and primary spermatocyte stages, no expression was detected. In patients with arrest at the spermatid stage, expression level was weak or absent. Variable expression was seen in patients with spermatogenic arrest.