Basic Information

Symbol
TSPO
RNA class
mRNA
Alias
Translocator Protein PKBS PBR MBR TSPO1 MDRC Pk18 BZRP DBI IBP Peripheral-Type Benzodiazepine Receptor Mitochondrial Benzodiazepine Receptor Putative Peripheral Benzodiazepine Receptor-Related Protein Peripheral-Type Benzodiazepine Receptor/Recognition Site Benzodiazepine Peripheral Binding Site Benzodiazapine Receptor (Peripheral) Translocator Protein (18kDa) BPBS PTBR PBRS PBS
Location (GRCh38)
22:43151077-43163246
UCSC Genome Browser Search in Marker Scope
Forensic tag(s)
Forensic psychiatry evaluation
External database
HGNC NCBI Ensembl OMIM UniProt UniProt GTEx

MANE select

Transcript ID
NM_000714.6
Sequence length
836.0 nt
GC content
0.6471

Transcripts

ID Sequence Length GC content
NM_000714.6 NCBI
AACUCCUGCCAGGCAGUGCCCUUCCCGGAGCGUGCCCUCGCCGCUGAGC… 836 nt 0.6471
NM_001256530.1 NCBI
CUCCUGCCCAUUCCGCGGAUGGGCAAUCCCAGGCGGAACUCCCUUGAGG… 1116 nt 0.6102
NM_001256531.1 NCBI
CUCUCCUGCCCAUUCCGCGGAUGGGCAAUCCCAGGCGGAACUCCCUUGA… 1025 nt 0.6088
Summary

Present mainly in the mitochondrial compartment of peripheral tissues, the protein encoded by this gene interacts with some benzodiazepines and has different affinities than its endogenous counterpart. The protein is a key factor in the flow of cholesterol into mitochondria to permit the initiation of steroid hormone synthesis. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been reported; one of the variants lacks an internal exon and is considered non-coding, and the other variants encode the same protein. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2012]

Forensic Context

A systematic review of postmortem human brain studies found that the TSPO mRNA expression was unchanged in the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of individuals who died by suicide compared to controls [Yamamoto et al. DOI:10.3390/Ijms25115750], while a separate review noted that TSPO protein levels were increased in the prefrontal cortex, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex in patients with major depressive episodes [Crews et al. DOI:10.1007/S00213-017-4560-6].