De-Etiolated Homolog 1 (DET1)

DET1 gene encodes a 550-amino acid protein. Human DET expression was highest in ovary, some lymphoid organs, resting leukocytes, and certain cell lines.

DET1 promotes ubiquitination and degradation of the protooncogenic transcription factor c-Jun by assembling a multisubunit ubiquitin ligase containing DNA damage-binding protein-1 (DDB1), cullin 4A (CUL4A), regulator of cullins-1 (ROC1), and constitutively photomorphogenic-1 (COP1). Ablation of any subunit by RNA interference stabilized c-Jun and increased c-Jun-activated transcription. Wertz et al. (2004) concluded that their findings characterized a c-Jun ubiquitin ligase and define a specific function for DET1 in mammalian cells.