Telomerase Regulation Associated Protein (TRAP)

TRAP encodes a transcriptional regulator belonging to the SCY1-like family of kinase-like proteins. The protein has a divergent N-terminal kinase domain that is thought to be catalytically inactive, and can bind specific DNA sequences through its C-terminal domain. It activates transcription of the telomerase reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase beta genes. The protein has been localized to the nucleus, and also to the cytoplasm and centrosomes during mitosis. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. Scyl1 shares significant sequence similarity with kinases, but its putative kinase domain lacks subdomain 1 of the 12 characteristic subdomains, and it is missing highly conserved residues in other subdomains, suggesting that Scyl1 is not a functional kinase.