The modification of proteins with ubiquitin is an important cellular mechanism for targeting abnormal or short-lived proteins for degradation. 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. This enzyme is required for post-replicative DNA damage repair. Its protein sequence is 100% identical to the mouse, rat, and rabbit homologs, which indicates that this enzyme is highly conserved in eukaryotic evolution. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]
The protein encoded this gene is involved in several pathways including quality control of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum and lipid droplet accumulation. Lipid droplets are organelles in the cytoplasm that store neutral lipids such as cholesterol esters and trigylycerides to prevent
the overabundance of free cholesterol and fatty acids in cells, but also to act as storage for other metabolic processes, such as membrane biogenesis. Reduced expression of this gene results in reduced lipid droplet clustering, a function that is dependent on ubiquitination of the protein. This protein contains multiple domains including a hydrophobic N-terminal domain, an acetyltranferase domain, a ubiquitin-binding CUE domain, and a UBE2B2-binding domain (G2BR). Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2014]