WW domain-containing oxidoreductase is an
enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
that in humans is encoded by the ''WWOX''
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
.
Function
WW domain
The WW domain (also known as the rsp5-domain or WWP repeating structural motif, motif) is a modular protein domain that mediates specific interactions with protein ligands. This domain is found in a number of unrelated signaling and structural pro ...
-containing proteins are found in all eukaryotes and play an important role in the regulation of a wide variety of cellular functions such as protein degradation, transcription, and RNA splicing. This gene encodes a protein which contains 2 WW domains and a short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase domain (SRD). The highest normal expression of this gene is detected in hormonally regulated tissues such as testis, ovary, and prostate. This expression pattern and the presence of an SRD domain suggest a role for this gene in steroid metabolism. The encoded protein is more than 90% identical to the mouse protein, which is an essential mediator of tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced apoptosis, suggesting a similar, important role in apoptosis for the human protein. In addition, there is evidence that this gene behaves as a suppressor of tumor growth. Alternative splicing of this gene generates transcript variants that encode different isoforms.
WWOX is also known as
human accelerated region 6. It may, therefore, have played a key role in differentiating humans from apes.
[supplement]
/ref>
Interactions
WWOX has been shown to interact with P53
p53, also known as tumor protein p53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory transcription factor protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thou ...
and ACK1.
Disorders
Defects in the WWOX gene are associated with a number of developmental disorders, including WOREE syndrome.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{gene-16-stub