XB-FEAT-5865172

tmem17b

This is the community wiki page for the gene tmem17b please feel free to add any information that is relevant to this gene that is not already captured elsewhere in Xenbase.

nomenclature changes

16APR2026

Xenopus name was updated following recommendation and analysis by NCBI RefSeq team. Name was changed from tmem17 to tmem17b

REFSEQ corresponce below:

The genes you are calling TMEM17 (CGNC:66400, XB-GENEPAGE-5865172, and ZDB-GENE-070615-15) need a little clarification as they are not the true orthologs of human TMEM17 (GeneID: 200728, HGNC:26623) but rather are a TMEM17 paralog that exists in reptiles, birds, most amphibians, and "fish" (but not Gymnophiona or Mammalia). Lamprey and hagfish appear to have a single TMEM17 gene. Thus, I believe a TMEM17 duplication occurred in gnathostomes and one paralog was lost in mammals and the other paralog was lost in amphibians.

I'm open to a discussion on the preferred symbol terminology. My inclination is to have human TMEM17 represent the TMEM17A gene family and TMEM17B will represent the other gene family that's in reptiles, birds, amphibia, and fish (see TMEM17.pptx). This allows the human gene to remain as TMEM17 while TMEM17A and TMEM17B are applied to Gg, Xtr, Drerio. The following description and attachments assume this TMEM17A/B schema.

Outside of tetrapods there is very very little synteny among major taxa like teleosts and gnathostomes but within taxa there is some synteny and using a different specie's protein in the protein tree generally doesn't change the topography of the gene family clusters. So I think the TMEM17A and TMEM17B gene families I've identified are legitimate.

In reptiles and birds, TMEM17A resides between OTX1< EHBP1< and B3GNT2< COMMD1< while TMEM17B resides next to AIFM3. TMEM17A is present in mammals in that same location but it is lost in amphibians. TMEM17B sits next to AIFM3 in anura and caudata but is lost in mammals. Outside of tetrapods there is no consistent synteny among major taxons for either gene (see TMEM17.txt). Note that Xenopus has an additional gene which Xenbase names tmem17l (Xtr XB-GENE-6456878, GeneID:548354 and Xla XB-GENE-17344377, GeneID:108715558). Unlike TMEM17A and TMEM17B, it is a single exon gene that resides between ZSWIM5> UROD< and PRDX1<. I don't find a tmem17-like gene in this region in other amphibians so I suspect it is a Xenopus-specific retrotranscribed gene. Thus, tmem17l/transmembrane protein 17-like is a suitable name for now.

Note that the protein names in TMEM17.pptx are inconsistently applied (NCBI's error) but the protein clusters are stable and in the higher taxa synteny supports the two protein clusters. Also note that the tree has some anomalies like the agnathan branch * not being at the base of the two TMEM17A/B clusters and the TMEM17B protein for Xtr (and any amphibian I used) being outside the tetrapod branch.

So, the action items are:

CHICKEN

update CGNC:66400 (GeneID:421284) to TMEM17A

update CGNC:64124 (GeneID:100858995) to TMEM17B

XENOPUS

update XB-GENEPAGE-5865172 (Xtr GeneID:100124937, Xla.L 108717233) to tmem17b

ZEBRAFISH

update ZDB-GENE-050522-418 (Gene ID:553704) to tmem17a

update ZDB-GENE-070615-15 (Gene ID:568092) to tmem17b

Thank you!, David Webb RefSeq Curator