| Type: | Domain | Name: | OTU domain |
| Description: | An homology region containing four conserved motifs has been identified in proteins from eukaryotes, several groups of viruses and the pathogenicbacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae []. None of these proteins has a known biochemical function but low sequence similarity with the polyprotein regions of arteriviruses has lead to suggest that it could possess cysteine protease activity []. In this case, the conserved cysteine and aspartate in motif I and the histidine in motif IV could be the catalytic residues. Motifs II and III have a more limited sequence conservation and could be involved in substrate recognition [].It has been proposed that the eukaryotic proteins containing an OTU domain could mediate proteolytic events involved in signalling associated with themodification of chromatin structure and control of cell proliferation [].In viruses proteins containing this domain are annotated as replicase or RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The eukaryotic sequences are related to the Ovarian Tumour (OTU) gene in Drosophila, cezanne deubiquitinating peptidase and tumor necrosis factor, alpha-induced protein 3 (MEROPS peptidase family C64) and otubain 1 and otubain 2 (MEROPS peptidase family C65). | Short Name: | OTU_dom |
