Description
Product Characteristics:
ATG4A is a cysteine protease required for autophagy, which cleaves the C-terminal part of either MAP1LC3, GABARAPL2 or GABARAP, allowing the liberation of form I. A subpopulation of form I is subsequently converted to a smaller form (form II). Form II, with a revealed C-terminal glycine, is considered to be the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)-conjugated form, and has the capacity for the binding to autophagosomes.
Subcellular location: Cytoplasm
Synonyms: Cysteine protease, AUT-like 2 cysteine endopeptidase, Autophagin-2, Autophagy-related cysteine endopeptidase 2, Autophagy-related protein 4 homolog A, hAPG4A, APG4A, AUTL2
Target Information: Autophagy is the process by which endogenous proteins and damaged organelles are destroyed intracellularly. Autophagy is postulated to be essential for cell homeostasis and cell remodeling during differentiation, metamorphosis, non-apoptotic cell death, and aging. Reduced levels of autophagy have been described in some malignant tumors, and a role for autophagy in controlling the unregulated cell growth linked to cancer has been proposed. This gene encodes a member of the autophagin protein family. The encoded protein is also designated as a member of the C-54 family of cysteine proteases. Transcript variants that encode distinct isoforms have been identified. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]