USP21 Proteins

This gene encodes a member of the C19 peptidase family, also known as family 2 of ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolases. The encoded protein cleaves ubiquitin from ubiquitinated proteins for recycling in intracellular protein degradation. The encoded protein is also able to release NEDD8, a ubiquitin-like protein, from NEDD8-conjugated proteins. This gene has been referred to as USP16 and USP23 but is now known as USP21. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been described. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008].