TBC1 Domain Family, Member 20 (TBC1D20)

TBC1D20, a protein that may mediate endocytosis, trafficking, and sorting of cellular proteins, represents a new mechanism by which viruses could subvert the host cell and that this insight may offer a new route for pharmacologic intervention.TBC1D20 colocalized with calnexin in the endoplasmic reticulum, which led them to investigate Rabs associated with the ER as possible targets of TBC1D20. They identified RAB1 as the GTPase activated by TBC1D20.TBC1D20, contains a TBC domain found in most Rab-GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs), which are important in vesicular membrane transport. Immunoprecipitation of tagged TBC1D20 showed that the precipitate included HCV NS5A, confirming the interaction. Deletion experiments mapped the interaction domain with NS5A to the C-terminal domain of TBC1D20.