Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

DDX4

Probable ATP-dependent RNA helicase DDX4

Also known as: DDX4_HUMAN, VASA

Cross-references: UniProt · Ensembl · Human Protein Atlas · GeneCards · NCBI Gene

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q9NQI0
Gene
DDX4
Ensembl
ENSG00000152670
Chromosome
5
Canonical length
724 aa
Protein class
Enzymes, Predicted intracellular proteins
Subcellular location
Nucleoplasm,Plasma membrane,Cytosol

OverviewNCBI Gene

DEAD box proteins, characterized by the conserved motif Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp (DEAD), are putative RNA helicases. They are implicated in a number of cellular processes involving alteration of RNA secondary structure such as translation initiation, nuclear and mitochondrial splicing, and ribosome and spliceosome assembly. Based on their distribution patterns, some members of this family are believed to be involved in embryogenesis, spermatogenesis, and cellular growth and division. This gene encodes a DEAD box protein, which is a homolog of VASA proteins in Drosophila and several other species. The gene is specifically expressed in the germ cell lineage in both sexes and functions in germ cell development. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2009]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

724 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q9NQI0|DDX4
     1  MGDEDWEAEI NPHMSSYVPI FEKDRYSGEN GDNFNRTPAS SSEMDDGPSR RDHFMKSGFA
    61  SGRNFGNRDA GECNKRDNTS TMGGFGVGKS FGNRGFSNSR FEDGDSSGFW RESSNDCEDN
   121  PTRNRGFSKR GGYRDGNNSE ASGPYRRGGR GSFRGCRGGF GLGSPNNDLD PDECMQRTGG
   181  LFGSRRPVLS GTGNGDTSQS RSGSGSERGG YKGLNEEVIT GSGKNSWKSE AEGGESSDTQ
   241  GPKVTYIPPP PPEDEDSIFA HYQTGINFDK YDTILVEVSG HDAPPAILTF EEANLCQTLN
   301  NNIAKAGYTK LTPVQKYSIP IILAGRDLMA CAQTGSGKTA AFLLPILAHM MHDGITASRF
   361  KELQEPECII VAPTRELVNQ IYLEARKFSF GTCVRAVVIY GGTQLGHSIR QIVQGCNILC
   421  ATPGRLMDII GKEKIGLKQI KYLVLDEADR MLDMGFGPEM KKLISCPGMP SKEQRQTLMF
   481  SATFPEEIQR LAAEFLKSNY LFVAVGQVGG ACRDVQQTVL QVGQFSKREK LVEILRNIGD
   541  ERTMVFVETK KKADFIATFL CQEKISTTSI HGDREQRERE QALGDFRFGK CPVLVATSVA
   601  ARGLDIENVQ HVINFDLPST IDEYVHRIGR TGRCGNTGRA ISFFDLESDN HLAQPLVKVL
   661  TDAQQDVPAW LEEIAFSTYI PGFSGSTRGN VFASVDTRKG KSTLNTAGFS SSQAPNPVDD
   721  ESWD

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against DDX4 can act on the native protein depends on physical access: surface and secreted proteins are reachable by circulating antibodies, intracellular proteins usually are not.

Antibody reachability
Intracellular
Secreted
No
Transmembrane segments
0
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA)
0.42
Highest tissue expression
140 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • testis: 140 nTPM
  • ovary: 1.2 nTPM
  • pancreas: 0.4 nTPM
  • tonsil: 0.4 nTPM
  • basal ganglia: 0.3 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 0.3 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • early spermatids: 700 nCPM
  • late primary spermatocytes: 677 nCPM
  • early primary spermatocytes: 290 nCPM
  • late spermatids: 241 nCPM
  • undifferentiated spermatogonia: 169 nCPM
  • oocytes: 138 nCPM

Immune cell

  • basophil: 0 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • eosinophil: 0 nTPM
  • gdT-cell: 0 nTPM
  • intermediate monocyte: 0 nTPM
  • MAIT T-cell: 0 nTPM

Brain region

  • white matter: 5 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 3.5 nTPM
  • basal ganglia: 2.8 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 2.8 nTPM
  • hippocampal formation: 2.7 nTPM
  • pons: 2.5 nTPM

Genetic constraint and essentialitygnomAD · DepMap

Does the body need this protein intact? Low LOEUF or a strong DepMap dependency means loss or blockade of the protein is likely to be felt.

gnomAD LOEUF (loss-of-function intolerance)
0.26
gnomAD pLI
1
gnomAD missense Z
2.05
DepMap mean gene effect
-0.1
DepMap dependency class
selective

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 3% of surveyed tumor types (aggregate summary; per-cohort expression, alteration, and survival load in the interactive view).

OntologyGO

Biological processes

Molecular functions

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

InteractionsUniProt · HPA

Protein binding partners of DDX4 in the human serome: UniProt-annotated complex subunits plus reported interactors. Each links to its own Seroatlas record.

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads DDX4 as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against DDX4 could matter depends on whether native DDX4 is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

DDX4 is annotated as predominantly intracellular. Intracellular proteins are common autoantibody markers, becoming visible to the immune system after cell injury or altered processing, but are usually markers of disease rather than direct drivers.

Annotation status

The present source text does not explicitly label DDX4 as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/DDX4. Study-independent annotations aggregated from UniProt, Human Protein Atlas, PubMed, IEDB, Pfam, InterPro, Gene Ontology, AlphaFold, gnomAD, DepMap, ClinVar, TCGA. Catalog release seroatlas-reviewed-human-uniprot-20260313.

Seroatlas is the reference for exploring autoantibody and antibody serology at the human-protein level: the autoreactome and human serome, multiplex serology (HuProt, HuScan, VirScan, PhIP-Seq).

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