Ubc13, also known as UBE2N, is an ubiquitin E2 conjugating enzyme that forms a heterodimeric complex with the inactive ubiquitin E2 variant Mms2, also known as UBE2V2, to give the functional E2 enzyme.
The selectivity of the ubiquitin cascade for a particular substrate protein relies on the interaction between the E2 conjugating enzyme (of which a cell contains relatively few) and an ubiquitin E3 ligase, of which over 600 have been identified to date. The specific E2-E3 pair required for ubiquitination of a particular substrate protein in vivo may also control the type of ubiquitin modification (mono-, multi-, poly-ubiquitin), the exact substrate lysine residue(s) to be modified and, in the case of polyubiquitination, the chain length and lysine linkage type.
The Ubc13-Mms2 complex assembles K63-linked polyubiquitin chains that are utilised in non-degradative ubiquitin signalling pathways such as DNA repair and signal transduction processes such as the NFkB pathway. The complex can also produce free K63-linked polyubiquitin chains in vitro in the absence of an E3 ligase enzyme.
Recombinant human Ubc13-Mms2 protein complex expressed with a N-terminal His-tag on Ubc13. Protein has utility in ubiquitination reactions, K63-linked polyubiquitin chain synthesis, identification of substrate specific E2-E3 pairs and determination of E2 polyubiquitin linkage specificity.