Farnesyltransferase Alpha (FNTa)

CAAX geranylgeranyltransferase and CAAX farnesyltransferase are heterodimers that share the same alpha subunit but have different beta subunits.

FNTa encodes the alpha subunit of these transferases. The best characterized of the prenyltransferases, CAAX farnesyltransferase (FTase), attaches a farnesyl group from farnesyl pyrophosphate to cysteine residues at the fourth position from the C terminus of proteins that end in the so-called CAAX box, where C is cysteine, A is usually but not always an aliphatic amino acid, and X is typically methionine or serine. This enzyme has the remarkable property of farnesylating peptides as short as 4 residues in length that conform to the CAAX consensus sequence.