When mammalian eggs are fertilized by sperm, a distinct series of calcium oscillations are generated which serve as the essential trigger for egg activation and early embryo development. The identification of a soluble hamster sperm 33-kDa protein that co-migrated with calcium oscillation-inducing activity was recently described by Parrington et al. (Parrington, J., Swann, K., Shevchenko, V.I., Sesay, A.K. and Lai, F.A., 1996. Calcium oscillations in mammalian eggs triggered by a soluble sperm protein. Nature 379, 364-368). The hamster sperm 33 kDa protein was termed oscillin because it correlated with calcium oscillation-inducing activity in mammalian eggs. Sequence analysis of the hamster sperm 33 kDa protein indicated no similarity to any known cell signalling molecule, however, it displayed extensive homology with a bacterial glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase. We have isolated the corresponding human testis homologue of the hamster sperm 33 kDa cDNA. Nucleotide sequence analysis reveals a high level of sequence identity between the hamster and human genes. The deduced protein sequence of the human gene also shares extensive amino acid identity with the bacterial glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase enzyme. Heterologous expression of the human testis 33 kDa protein produced a glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase activity. The genomic structure of the human glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase has been mapped and the gene was localized by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to chromosome 5q31.