Meteorin-like/METRNL Proteins and Enzymes

METRNL (Meteorin-like) is a cytoplasmic 30 kDa (predicted) member of the meteorin family of proteins. The name meteorin derives from the ability of the founding family member meteorin to transform glia into cells containing an extensive, meteor-like tail. It is expressed by neurons, and appears to function as a primer molecule that sets the stage for either cell differentiation or neurite outgrowth when it acts with Dclk1 and SerpinB1. Mature human METRNL is 266 amino acids (aa) in length (aa 46-311). It reportedly contains a signal sequence (aa 1-45), which suggests it may be secreted. Mature human and mouse METRNL share 79% aa sequence identity.