UBL4A Gene

Name	ubiquitin-like 4A
Description	Enables protein-folding chaperone binding activity. Involved in establishment of protein localization to membrane; regulation of protein stability; and ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process. Located in cytosol; membrane; and nucleoplasm. Part of BAT3 complex. [provided by Alliance of Genome Resources, Mar 2025]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nUBL4A is a ubiquitin‐like protein that functions as a critical cofactor within the Bag6 complex, playing a principal role in endoplasmic reticulum–associated degradation (ERAD) and protein quality control. In this capacity, UBL4A partners with Bag6 and TRC35 to form a “holdase” complex that assists in the extraction and processing of misfolded, hydrophobic proteins from the ER membrane, thereby preventing aggregation and ensuring proper protein turnover."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nStructural analyses of the Bag6 complex have further defined a minimal architecture in which UBL4A occupies a unique C‐terminal binding site on Bag6, which is paramount for its noncanonical interactions. This configuration enables the efficient transfer of tail‐anchored membrane protein substrates from upstream chaperones (such as SGTA) to downstream factors like TRC40, thereby facilitating proper membrane insertion and overall cellular protein homeostasis."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nIn addition to its central role in protein quality control, UBL4A positively regulates innate immune responses. It is upregulated following viral infection and enhances antiviral signaling by interacting with TRAF6 to promote K63‐linked ubiquitination, leading to increased phosphorylation of key signaling molecules and activation of NF‐κB, with subsequent elevated type I interferon production. Conversely, downregulation of UBL4A via miR-34b-3p has been shown to alleviate inflammatory responses and tissue injury in sepsis-induced acute kidney injury, highlighting its dual importance in both proteostasis and inflammatory signaling."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Yue Xu, Mengli Cai, Yingying Yang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "SGTA recognizes a noncanonical ubiquitin-like domain in the Bag6-Ubl4A-Trc35 complex to promote endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cell Rep (2012)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.celrep.2012.11.010"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2012.11.010"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "23246001"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23246001"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Yanfen Liu, Nia Soetandyo, Jin-Gu Lee, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "USP13 antagonizes gp78 to maintain functionality of a chaperone in ER-associated degradation."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Elife (2014)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.7554/eLife.01369"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01369"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "24424410"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24424410"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "John F Darby, Ewelina M Krysztofinska, Peter J Simpson, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Solution structure of the SGTA dimerisation domain and investigation of its interactions with the ubiquitin-like domains of BAG6 and UBL4A."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "PLoS One (2014)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1371/journal.pone.0113281"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113281"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "25415308"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25415308"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jee-Young Mock, Justin William Chartron, Ma'ayan Zaslaver, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Bag6 complex contains a minimal tail-anchor-targeting module and a mock BAG domain."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2015)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1073/pnas.1402745112"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1402745112"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "25535373"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25535373"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Shu-Jie Peng, Ran-Ran Yao, Shuang-Shuang Yu, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "UBL4A Augments Innate Immunity by Promoting the K63-Linked Ubiquitination of TRAF6."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Immunol (2019)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.4049/jimmunol.1800750"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1800750"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "31451677"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31451677"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Shu-Yin He, Gang Wang, Ying-Hao Pei, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "miR-34b-3p protects against acute kidney injury in sepsis mice via targeting ubiquitin-like protein 4A."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Kaohsiung J Med Sci (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1002/kjm2.12255"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/kjm2.12255"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "32609950"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32609950"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	G6PD, GDX, GET5, DX254E, DXS254E, TMA24, MDY2, UBL4
Proteins	UBL4A_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	8266
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

UBL4A has 7,484 functional associations with biological entities spanning 8 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) extracted from 111 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for UBL4A from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

UBL4A Gene

Functional Associations

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

	Dataset	Summary
	Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles	cell lines with fitness changed by UBL4A gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of UBL4A gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq	tissue samples with high or low expression of UBL4A gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of UBL4A 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 UBL4A 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 UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with UBL4A protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of UBL4A 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 UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing UBL4A protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing UBL4A protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing UBL4A protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing UBL4A protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with UBL4A 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 UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with UBL4A gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with UBL4A gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with UBL4A gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action	small molecule perturbations with high or low expression of UBL4A protein relative to other small molecule perturbations from the DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by UBL4A gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with UBL4A gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with UBL4A 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 UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with UBL4A gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at UBL4A 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 UBL4A gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of UBL4A 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 UBL4A from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of UBL4A gene relative to other cell lines from the GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations	biological terms co-occuring with UBL4A gene in literature-supported statements describing functions of genes from the GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations dataset.