MN gene and protein

An isolated and purified MN nucleic acid comprising at least 16 nucleotides and at most about 1522 nucleotides, that encodes an MN protein or an MN polypeptide, which comprises a nucleotide sequence which is selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) SEQ ID NO:
• 1 and its complementary nucleotide sequence that encode the MN protein in SEQ ID NO. 2;
• (b) nucleotide sequences that specifically hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions of 50% formamide at 42° C. to the nucleotide sequences of (a);
• (c) nucleotide sequences that differ in codon sequence from the nucleotide sequences of (a) due to the degeneracy of the genetic code;
• and
• (d) nucleotide sequences that specifically hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions of 50% formamide at 42° C. to the nucleptide sequences of (c).

An isolated MN nucleic acid, comprising at least 50 nucleotides to about 10,898 nucleotides, which comprises a nucleotide sequence which is selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) SEQ ID NO:
• 5 and its complementary nucleotide sequence;
• (b) nucleotide sequences that are fully complementary to the nucleotide sequences of (a);
• (c) nucleotide sequences which will specifically hybridize under stringent conditions of 50% formamide at 42° C. to SEQ ID NO:
• 5 or its complementary nucleotide sequence, but do not specifically hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions of 50% formamide at 42° C. to SEQ ID NOS:
• 59-66 or to the 222 nucleotide long terminal repeat sequence proximal to the 5′ end of SEQ ID NO:
• 5.