A mouse monoclonal antibody ECS-1 raised to human keratinocytes detects a 35-kDa epidermal surface antigen (ESA) and causes keratinocyte dissociation in vitro. ECS-1 stains skin of 16-day mouse embryo and 8- to 9-week human fetus. Mouse Esa cDNA encodes a 379-amino-acid protein that is 99.2% identical to the human, differing at only 3 amino acids. The gene (M17S1) was mapped to mouse chromosome 11, high-lighting the conserved linkage synteny existing between human chromosome 17 and mouse chromosome 11. Although the nude locus has been mapped to the same region of chromosome 11, no abnormalities in protein, mRNA, or cDNA or genomic sequences were detected in nude mice. However, both nude and control mice were found to have a second Esa mRNA transcript that conserves amino acid sequence and molecular weight. The mouse and human 5' and 3' untranslated sequences are conserved. Similar RNA folding patterns of the 5' untranslated region are predicted despite a 91-bp insertion in the mouse. These data suggest that both the function and the regulation of ESA protein are of importance and that Esa (M17S1) is not the nude locus gene.