T. Yamaguchi et al., CLONING AND EXPRESSION OF CDNA-ENCODING A HUMAN UBIQUITIN-CONJUGATINGENZYME SIMILAR TO THE DROSOPHILA BENDLESS GENE-PRODUCT, Journal of Biochemistry, 120(3), 1996, pp. 494-497
eDNA encoding a novel human ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme has been clon
ed from an epidermoid carcinoma KB cDNA library. This clone encodes a
protein of 152 amino acids with a calculated M(r) of 17,137. The amino
acid sequence showed 80% identity with the Drosophila's bendless gene
product (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2). The corresponding transcri
pts ape highly expressed in heart, skeletal muscle, and testis. The pr
oduct expressed in Escherichia coli exhibited the ability to form a th
iol ester linkage with ubiquitin in a ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1-d
ependent manner. These results suggest that the obtained cDNA encodes
a novel human E2 which may be involved in protein degradation mainly i
n the muscles and testis.