This gene belongs to the family of reticulon encoding genes. Reticulons are associated with the endoplasmic reticulum, and are involved in neuroendocrine secretion or in membrane trafficking in neuroendocrine cells. This gene is considered to be a specific marker for neurological diseases and cancer, and is a potential molecular target for therapy. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2011]
Forensic Context
A study in humans demonstrated that the RTN1 is a specific mRNA marker for brain tissue identification, where it functions in neuroendocrine cell maintenance and signaling and is reported to be expressed in the spinal cord [Lindenbergh et al. DOI:10.1007/s00414-013-0895-7]. The marker was included in an initial organ-typing multiplex assay, which successfully analyzed blind test sets and mock stabbing samples, though it was later replaced by GFAP and OPALIN in an updated assay design [van den Berge et al. DOI:10.1002/elps.201700241].