Dnaja1 - DnaJ heat shock protein family (Hsp40) member A1

The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the DnaJ family, whose members act as cochaperones of heat shock protein 70. Heat shock proteins facilitate protein folding, trafficking, prevention of aggregation, and proteolytic degradation. Members of this family are characterized by a highly conserved N-terminal J domain, a glycine/phenylalanine-rich region, four CxxCxGxG zinc finger repeats, and a C-terminal substrate-binding domain. The J domain mediates the interaction with heat shock protein 70 to recruit substrates and regulate ATP hydrolysis activity. Mice deficient for this gene display reduced levels of activation‐induced deaminase, an enzyme that deaminates deoxycytidine at the immunoglobulin genes during immune responses. In addition, mice lacking this gene exhibit severe defects in spermatogenesis. Several pseudogenes of this gene are found on other chromosomes. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2015]