Background information
Members of the suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family of proteins contain C-terminal regions of homology called the SOCS box, which serves to couple SOCS proteins and their binding partners with the Elongin B/C complex. Several other families of proteins also contain SOCS boxes, but differ from the SOCS proteins in the type of domain they contain upstream of the SOCS box. The largest family of SOCS box-containing proteins is the ankyrin repeat and SOCS box-containing (ASB) protein family. ASB-7 (ankyrin repeat and SOCS box-containing 7) is a 318 amino acid protein that contains one SOCS box domain and seven ANK repeats and belongs to the ASB family. Existing as multiple alternatively spliced isoforms, ASB-7 functions as a substrate-recognition component of an E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase complex and, working in conjunction with other proteins, plays a role in the ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of target proteins.
