title: The HERC proteins: functional and evolutionary insights.
abstract: HERC proteins are defined as containing both HECT and RCC1-like domains in their amino acid sequences. Six HERC genes have turned up in the human genome which encode two different sorts of polypeptides: while the small HERC proteins possess little more than the two aforementioned domains, the large ones are giant proteins with a plethora of potentially important regions. It is now almost 10 years since the discovery of the first family member and information is starting to accumulate pointing to a general role for these proteins as ubiquitin ligases involved in membrane-trafficking events. In this review, the available data on these six members are discussed, together with an account of their evolution.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, IDIBELL, Campus de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Garcia-Gonzalo
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rosa
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases