Vacuolar Protein Sorting 52 (VPS52)

VPS52 is similar to the yeast suppressor of actin mutations 2 gene. The yeast protein forms a subunit of the tetrameric Golgi-associated retrograde protein complex that is involved in vesicle trafficking from from both early and late endosomes, back to the trans-Golgi network. This gene is located on chromosome 6 in a head-to-head orientation with the gene encoding ribosomal protein S18.

The predicted protein was designated Sacm2l (suppressor of actin mutations 2-like) because it shared 20% sequence identity with S. cerevisiae Sac2 (suppressor of actin mutations-2). By searching an EST database, the authors identified human and mouse cDNAs encoding homologous proteins that are 95% and 98% identical, respectively, to rat Sacm2l.