Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P62988 (Ubiquitin)
 4,326 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Because of the conservation of the ubiquitin coding sequence and the number of transcriptionally active genes and reverse-transcribed pseudogenes, it has not been possible to use ubiquitin cDNA clones to map the functional ubiquitin genes. The UBB and UBC polyubiquitin genes have previously been mapped by the use of specific intron or 5' flanking sequence probes. In this study, we have used an intron sequence from the UBA52 gene for chromosome mapping studies. Analysis of somatic cell hybrids containing individual human chromosomes indicated that the UBA52 gene is located on chromosome 19. In situ hybridization studies confirmed the chromosomal localization but showed two peaks of hybridization: a major one over 19p13.1-p12 and a secondary one over 19q12-q13.11. Because the peak of hybridization over 19p13.1-p12 was consistently the strongest in five individuals, it is likely that this is the location of the UBA52 gene. Thus far, three of the four transcriptionally active ubiquitin genes have been assigned to separate chromosomes.
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PMID:Localization of the human UBA52 ubiquitin fusion gene to chromosome band 19p13.1-p12. 818

Ubiquitin (Ub) is a small 76-amino acid protein that is engaged in many different pathways within the cell, including protein turnover. During proteotoxic stress, when the demand of clearing damaged/misfolded proteins strongly increases, cells activate Ub gene transcription to face the need of extra ubiquitin. This paper shows the contribution of the four ubiquitin coding genes (UBB, UBC, UBA52, RPS27A) to the ubiquitin RNA pool under basal and stressful conditions. Our results reveal that UBC and RPS27A represent the major fraction of the Ub transcriptome in different cell lines, but when converted to the coding potential, polyubiquitin genes UBC and UBB mainly contribute to determine the intracellular ubiquitin content under basal conditions. Both the polyubiquitin genes UBB and UBC are upregulated upon proteasome inhibition and oxidative stress, with markedly higher responses from the UBC promoter. A similar output, with lower fold-inductions, is detected in heat-stressed cells, with UBC acting as the main contributor to thermotolerance. By contrast, upon these stressors, the levels of UBA52 and RPS27A mRNAs remain unchanged. Remarkably, UV irradiation fails to induce Ub gene transcription, but rather seems to act at the post-transcriptional level, by stabilizing ubiquitin mRNAs at UV doses which induce rapid degradation of other RNA molecules. Moreover, the evidence that the UBC core promoter contains multiple transcription start sites and their responsiveness to stress, is here reported for the first time.
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PMID:Dynamic transcription of ubiquitin genes under basal and stressful conditions and new insights into the multiple UBC transcript variants. 2617 70

Natural selective processes have been known to drive phenotypic plasticity, which is the emergence of different phenotypes from one genome following environmental stimulation. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been observed to modulate transcriptional and epigenetic states of genes in human cells. We surmised that lncRNAs are governors of phenotypic plasticity and drive natural selective processes through epigenetic modulation of gene expression. Using heat shocked human cells as a model we find several differentially expressed transcripts with the top candidates being lncRNAs derived from retro-elements. One particular retro-element derived transcripts, Retro-EIF2S2, was found to be abundantly over-expressed in heat shocked cells. Over-expression of Retro-EIF2S2 significantly enhanced cell viability and modulated a predisposition for an adherent cellular phenotype upon heat shock. Mechanistically, we find that this retro-element derived transcript interacts directly with a network of proteins including 40S ribosomal protein S30 (FAU), Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (EIF5A), and Ubiquitin-60S ribosomal protein L40 (UBA52) to affect protein modulated cell adhesion pathways. We find one motif in Retro-EIF2S2 that exhibits binding to FAU and modulates phenotypic cell transitions from adherent to suspension states. The observations presented here suggest that retroviral derived transcripts actively modulate phenotypic plasticity in human cells in response to environmental selective pressures and suggest that natural selection may play out through the action of retro-elements in human cells.
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PMID:RNA Directed Modulation of Phenotypic Plasticity in Human Cells. 2708 60

The dynamic modification of proteins with ubiquitin plays crucial roles in major celluar functions, and is associated with a number of pathological conditions. Ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) cleave ubiquitin from substrate proteins, and rescue them from proteasomal degradation. Among them, USP2 is overexpressed and plays important roles in various cancers including prostate cancer. Thus, it represents an attractive target for drug discovery. In order to develop potent and selective USP2 inhibitors, a highly reliable assay is needed for in-depth structure-activity relationship study. We report the cloning, expression, and purification of USP2 and UBA52, and the development of a highly reliable assay based on readily available SDS-PAGE-Coomassie systeme using UBA52 as the substrate protein. A number of effective USP2 inhibitors were also identified using this assay.
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PMID:Development of a highly reliable assay for ubiquitin-specific protease 2 inhibitors. 2877 69