Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, active site <p>Ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (<db_xref db="EC" dbkey="6.3.2.19"/>, UBC or E2 enzymes) catalyze the covalent attachment of ubiquitin to target proteins. An activated ubiquitin moiety is transferred from an ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1) to E2 which later ligates ubiquitin directly to substrate proteins with or without the assistance of 'N-end' recognizing proteins (E3) [<cite idref="PUB00005354"/>, <cite idref="PUB00000623"/>, <cite idref="PUB00005373"/>].In most species there are many forms of UBC (at least 9 in yeast) which are implicated in diverse cellular functions. </p><p>A cysteine residue is required for ubiquitin-thiolester formation. There is a single conserved cysteine in UBC's and the region around that residue is conserved in the sequence of known UBC isozymes. The signature pattern, of this entry, contains the active-site cysteine and spans the complete catalytic domain. </p>