ACE2 Gene

Name	angiotensin I converting enzyme 2
Description	The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the angiotensin-converting enzyme family of dipeptidyl carboxydipeptidases and has considerable homology to human angiotensin 1 converting enzyme. This secreted protein catalyzes the cleavage of angiotensin I into angiotensin 1-9, and angiotensin II into the vasodilator angiotensin 1-7. ACE2 is known to be expressed in various human organs, and its organ- and cell-specific expression suggests that it may play a role in the regulation of cardiovascular and renal function, as well as fertility. In addition, the encoded protein is a functional receptor for the spike glycoprotein of the human coronavirus HCoV-NL63 and the human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, the latter is the causative agent of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Multiple splice variants have been found for this gene and the dACE2 (or MIRb-ACE2) splice variant has been found to be interferon inducible. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2020]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a multifunctional type I transmembrane protein that plays a dual role in human physiology and disease. On one hand, ACE2 serves as the critical cellular receptor for several coronaviruses—including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV) and SARS‐CoV‐2—by directly binding to viral spike proteins and facilitating viral entry after proteolytic priming by host proteases such as TMPRSS2 and ADAM17."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "1", "end_ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " On the other hand, as a zinc metallopeptidase, ACE2 is a key regulator of the renin–angiotensin system; it converts angiotensin II to angiotensin‐(1–7), thereby counterbalancing the vasoconstrictive, proinflammatory, and profibrotic actions of angiotensin II and mitigating acute lung injury as well as adverse myocardial remodeling."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "5", "end_ref": "8"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, ACE2 is expressed in a range of tissues including the lung, gastrointestinal tract, heart, kidney, and testis; its tissue‐specific distribution underlies both the tropism of coronavirus infections and its diverse physiological roles. In addition, virus–receptor interactions can trigger ACE2 downregulation or ectodomain shedding—which may exacerbate tissue injury—emphasizing its significance as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in COVID-19 and related disorders."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "9"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Markus Hoffmann, Hannah Kleine-Weber, Simon Schroeder, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry Depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and Is Blocked by a Clinically Proven Protease Inhibitor."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.052"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.052"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "32142651"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32142651"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Wenhui Li, Michael J Moore, Natalya Vasilieva, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is a functional receptor for the SARS coronavirus."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nature (2003)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/nature02145"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02145"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "14647384"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14647384"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Renhong Yan, Yuanyuan Zhang, Yaning Li, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by full-length human ACE2."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Science (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1126/science.abb2762"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb2762"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "32132184"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32132184"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Qihui Wang, Yanfang Zhang, Lili Wu, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Structural and Functional Basis of SARS-CoV-2 Entry by Using Human ACE2."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.cell.2020.03.045"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.03.045"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "32275855"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32275855"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Chad Vickers, Paul Hales, Virendar Kaushik, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Hydrolysis of biological peptides by human angiotensin-converting enzyme-related carboxypeptidase."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M200581200"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M200581200"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "11815627"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11815627"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Michael A Crackower, Renu Sarao, Gavin Y Oudit, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is an essential regulator of heart function."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nature (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/nature00786"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00786"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12075344"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12075344"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Robson Augusto Souza Santos, Walkyria Oliveira Sampaio, Andreia C Alzamora, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "The ACE2/Angiotensin-(1-7)/MAS Axis of the Renin-Angiotensin System: Focus on Angiotensin-(1-7)."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Physiol Rev (2018)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1152/physrev.00023.2016"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00023.2016"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "29351514"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29351514"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 8, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Gillian I Rice, Daniel A Thomas, Peter J Grant, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Evaluation of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), its homologue ACE2 and neprilysin in angiotensin peptide metabolism."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Biochem J (2004)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1042/BJ20040634"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1042/BJ20040634"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "15283675"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15283675"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 9, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Keiji Kuba, Yumiko Imai, Shuan Rao, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "A crucial role of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in SARS coronavirus-induced lung injury."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nat Med (2005)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/nm1267"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1267"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "16007097"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16007097"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	ACEH
Proteins	ACE2_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	59272
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Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

ACE2 has 9,471 functional associations with biological entities spanning 9 categories (molecular profile, organism, chemical, functional term, phrase or reference, disease, phenotype or trait, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA, sequence feature) extracted from 112 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for ACE2 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

ACE2 Gene

Functional Associations

Please acknowledge the Harmonizome in your publications by citing the following reference(s):

	Dataset	Summary
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles	tissue samples with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other cell lines from the BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures	small molecule perturbations changing expression of ACE2 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of ACE2 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with ACE2 gene from the CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of ACE2 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of ACE2 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022	transcription factors binding the promoter of ACE2 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of ACE2 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing ACE2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing ACE2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with ACE2 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components co-occuring with ACE2 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of ACE2 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with ACE2 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with ACE2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with ACE2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by ACE2 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with ACE2 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases co-occuring with ACE2 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with ACE2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with ACE2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset.
	DrugBank Drug Targets	interacting drugs for ACE2 protein from the curated DrugBank Drug Targets dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at ACE2 gene from the ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of ACE2 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of ACE2 gene in ChIP-seq datasets from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing ACE2 from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GAD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with ACE2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with ACE2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of ACE2 gene relative to other cell lines from the GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations	biological terms co-occuring with ACE2 gene in literature-supported statements describing functions of genes from the GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations dataset.
	GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing ACE2 from the GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases	disease perturbations changing expression of ACE2 gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases dataset.