UPF0488 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the C8orf33 (Chromosome 8 Open Reading Frame 33) gene. Chromosome 8 open reading frame 33 (C8orf33) is a human protein-coding gene of currently unknown function. Tissue and subcellular distribution The UPF0488 protein is expressed in low-moderate levels in most tissues with some exceptions. It is predicted to localize in the nucleus and mitochondrion, though several orthologs were also predicted to localize in the cytosol; additionally, there is experimental evidence showing that human C8orf33 may localize in the peroxisomes. The expression of this gene is up-regulated after lithium exposure. C8orf33 is significantly up regulated in breast cancer drug treatment. Post-translational modification Several post-translational modifications including phosphorylation, methylation, and acetylation are predicted. Additionally, it has several post-translational modifications such as acetylation, methylation, phosphoprotein – this includes amino acid modifications (or modified residues) such as N-acetylalanine, omega-N-methylarginine, and phosphoserine). Gene This gene has 5 transcripts (splice variants), 62 orthologues and is a member of 1 Ensembl protein family. This gene is a member of the Human CCDS set: CCDS34974.1 This gene is a member of the Human CCDS set: CCDS34974. C8orf33 expression profile revealed that this gene was over-expressed after lithium exposure. C8orf33 (UPF0488) has 31 alternatively spliced exons which combine in 13 different transcript variants –X1 variant is the longest and seems to have the greatest identity. Human tissue RNA sequencing of UPF0488. Transcript UPF0488 has 5 transcripts splice variants. In terms of common gene haplotype alleles, the frequency of haplotype is 96.3% for one variant site. The primary transcript is 3,593 bp while a similar variant is 1,666 bp. The mRNA secondary structure of 3’ and 5’ UTR’s indicate different fold energies. The 5’ UTR region contains a fold energy of -21.20 and consists of 54 bases, the energy of the bases is -0.393. The 3’UTR region contains a fold energy of -646.10, consisting of 1873 bases – while the energy of the bases is -0.345. Expression According to microarray-assessed tissue expression analysis by NCBI GEO, the gene C8orf33 has average expression levels in most tissues save including thyroid gland and parathyroid gland. Expression seems to be low in the pancreas, small intestine and other digestive organs except the kidney which seems relatively higher. Approximate expression patterns inferred from EST sources. Norway rat putative protein-coding gene. Represented by 30 ESTs from 20 cDNA libraries. EST representation biased toward fetus. Gene expression