Ubiquitin Conjugating Enzyme E2N (UBE2N)

Ubiquitination involves at least three classes of enzymes: ubiquitin-activating enzymes, or E1s, ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, or E2s, and ubiquitin-protein ligases, or E3s. This gene encodes a member of the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme family. Studies in mouse suggest that this protein plays a role in DNA postreplication repair.

The UBE2N gene, which the authors referred to as UBCHBEN, encodes a protein of 152 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 17.1 kD. The amino acid sequence shows 80% identity with the Drosophila 'bendless' gene product (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2). Northern blot analysis detected a major 1.4- and a minor 2.4-kb transcript in all tissues examined, with the highest expression in heart, skeletal muscle, and testis.