Sentrin Specific Protease 1 (SENP1)

The covalent modification of proteins by the small ubiquitin (UBB)-like protein SUMO is implicated in the regulation of nucleocytoplasmic transport, genomic stability, gene transcription, and other processes. Sumoylation is catalyzed on target lysine residues by a multienzyme process and is reversed by desumoylating enzymes such as SENP1.The deduced 643-amino acid protein contains a C-terminal domain that includes conserved histidine, aspartate, and cysteine residues characteristic of cysteine proteases. SENP1 shares 21% identity with yeast Ulp1.In vitro studies revealed that translocation-associated MESE proteins exhibited desumoylation capacities similar to those observed for wildtype SENP1. SENP1 gene contains 18 exons and spans 61 kb. Exon 3 contains the translational start codon.