This gene encodes a member of a group of proteins similar to ubiquitin. The encoded protein is not thought to degrade proteins like ubiquitin but to affect their function through being bound to target proteins by an isopeptide bond. The gene product has been studied as a link to predisposition to obesity based on its expression in Psammomys obesus, the fat sand rat, which is an animal model for obesity studies. Variation in this gene was found to be significantly associated with some metabolic traits (PMID: 15331561) but not associated with childhood obesity (PMID: 19189687). Pseudogenes of this gene are located on chromosomes 3, 5 and 17. Multiple alternatively spliced variants, encoding the same protein, have been identified. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2013].