Mammary-specific transcription factor BrEts

摘要

A isolated transcription factor BrEts polypeptide has the amino acid sequence as in Figure 2. Also described are nucleic acids encoding the polypeptide and cells comprising a vector with nucleic acid sequence. The polypeptide can be used to modulate the development of the mammary gland of a non-human animal and to manipulate milk protein synthesis to enhance the level of milk production, alter the composition of the milk and/or alter the timing of milk protein synthesis. Breast cancer can be diagnosed by monitoring the levels of expression or number of copies of the gene for the polypeptide.