Ubiquitin C gene: Structure, function, and transcriptional regulation

Ubiquitin C (UbC) is one of the four genes encoding for ubiquitin in the mammalian genome. It has been described as the most responsive gene to cellular treats such as UV irradiation, heat shock, oxidative stress and translational impairment; it was also re- ported to contribute to maintaining ubiquitin steady state levels under physiological conditions. Despite the bulk of knowledge concerning its function, little is known about the molecular mechanisms modulating UbC expression. Here we review the state of the art of UbC structure, function and transcriptional regula- tion. Starting from the first evidences which circum- scribed the genomic region, pointing out both basic promoter marks (such as transcription start site and TATA-like element), and transcript structure (exon- intron boundaries) we go through more detailed mo- lecular studies performed by Marinovic in 2002 and by Bianchi et al. in 2009 and 2013. Herein, the key players orchestrating UbC gene basal activity are underlined.