Neudesin is a 172 amino acid secreted protein that belongs to the cytochrome b5 family and MAPR subfamily. Neudesin possesses neurotrophic activity, which is enhanced by binding to heme, and may contribute to neuronal differentiation and neural cell proliferation. In primary cultured neurons, Neudesin has been observed to activate Akt1 and ERK 1 phosphorylation. Upregulated in immortal cells, Neudesin contains one cytochrome b5 heme-binding domain and is encoded by a gene that maps to human chromosome 1q32.3. Human chromosome 1 spans 260 million base pairs and comprises nearly 8% of the human genome. A large number of disease-associated genes, including those that are involved in familial adenomatous polyposis, Stickler syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Gaucher disease, schizophrenia and Usher syndrome, map to chromosome 1.