Ubiquitin-like, containing PHD and RING finger domains, 1, also known as UHRF1, is a protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 which in humans is encoded by the UHRF1 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

Function

This gene encodes a member of a subfamily of RING-finger

RING finger domain

In molecular biology, a RING finger domain is a protein structural domain of zinc finger type which contains a Cys3HisCys4 amino acid motif which binds two zinc cations. This protein domain contains from 40 to 60 amino acids...

 type E3 ubiquitin ligases. The protein binds to specific DNA sequences, and recruits a histone deacetylase

Histone deacetylase

Histone deacetylases are a class of enzymes that remove acetyl groups from an ε-N-acetyl lysine amino acid on a histone. This is important because DNA is wrapped around histones, and DNA expression is regulated by acetylation and de-acetylation. Its action is opposite to that of histone...

 to regulate gene expression. Its expression peaks at late G1 phase and continues during G2 and M phases of the cell cycle

Cell cycle

The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the series of events that takes place in a cell leading to its division and duplication . In cells without a nucleus , the cell cycle occurs via a process termed binary fission...

. It plays a major role in the G1/S transition by regulating topoisomerase II alpha

TOP2A

DNA topoisomerase 2-alpha is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the TOP2A gene.-Interactions:TOP2A has been shown to interact with HDAC1, CDC5L, Small ubiquitin-related modifier 1 and P53.-Further reading:...

 and retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma protein

The retinoblastoma protein is a tumor suppressor protein that is dysfunctional in the majority types of cancer. One highly studied function of pRb is to prevent excessive cell growth by inhibiting cell cycle progression until a cell is ready to divide...

 gene expression, and functions in the p53

P53

p53 , is a tumor suppressor protein that in humans is encoded by the TP53 gene. p53 is crucial in multicellular organisms, where it regulates the cell cycle and, thus, functions as a tumor suppressor that is involved in preventing cancer...

-dependent DNA damage checkpoint. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.

Further reading