Alternative titles; symbols
HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: UBC
Cytogenetic location: 12q24.31 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 12:124,911,646-124,914,650 (from NCBI)
Studies of ubiquitin cDNAs and genes show 2 unusual gene structural arrangements (Schlesinger and Bond, 1987). The first type of arrangement is the polyubiquitin gene, consisting of tandem repeats of a ubiquitin coding unit, with the number of repeats varying considerably even within species. Presumably posttranslational cleavage produces ubiquitin monomers from the primary translation product. The second structural type is the ubiquitin fusion gene, which encodes a single ubiquitin moiety fused to an unrelated tail protein. Three types of ubiquitin have been identified: A, B (191339), and C. The ubiquitin C (UBC) mRNA corresponds to a 9-coding-unit polyubiquitin gene.
During Northern blot analysis of ubiquitin mRNA, Baker and Board (1989) observed a UBC mRNA length polymorphism. They characterized this 'mRLP', showed that it correlated precisely with an HaeIII RFLP, and explained the origin of the polymorphism on the basis of unequal crossover events. Using a 5-prime flanking fragment to probe Southern blots of DNA obtained from somatic cell hybrid cell lines, Board et al. (1992) determined that the UBC gene is located on chromosome 12. In situ hybridization with the same probe refined the assignment to 12q24.3.
Baker, R. T., Board, P. G. Unequal crossover generates variation in ubiquitin coding unit number at the human UbC polyubiquitin locus. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 44: 534-542, 1989. [PubMed: 2564731]
Board, P. G., Coggan, M., Baker, R. T., Vuust, J., Webb, G. C. Localization of the human UBC polyubiquitin gene to chromosome band 12q24.3. Genomics 12: 639-642, 1992. [PubMed: 1315303] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/0888-7543(92)90287-3]
Schlesinger, M. J., Bond, U. Ubiquitin genes. Oxf. Surv. Euk. Genes 4: 77-91, 1987.