DCAF4

gene
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Also known as DKFZp434K114

Summary

DCAF4 (DDB1 and CUL4 associated factor 4, HGNC:20229) is a protein-coding gene on chromosome 14q24.2, encoding DDB1- and CUL4-associated factor 4 (Q8WV16). May function as a substrate receptor for CUL4-DDB1 E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase complex.

This gene encodes a WD repeat-containing protein that interacts with the Cul4-Ddb1 E3 ligase macromolecular complex. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants have been found for this gene.

Source: NCBI Gene 26094 — RefSeq curated summary.

At a glance

  • GWAS associations: 11
  • Clinical variants (ClinVar): 123 total
  • MANE Select transcript: NM_015604

Identifiers

Gene identifiers

FieldValue
HGNC IDHGNC:20229
Approved symbolDCAF4
NameDDB1 and CUL4 associated factor 4
Location14q24.2
Locus typegene with protein product
StatusApproved
AliasesDKFZp434K114
Ensembl geneENSG00000119599
Ensembl biotypeprotein_coding
OMIM616372
Entrez26094

Gene structure

Transcript identifiers

Ensembl transcripts: 22 — 13 protein_coding, 5 protein_coding_CDS_not_defined, 3 retained_intron, 1 nonsense_mediated_decay

ENST00000353777, ENST00000358377, ENST00000394234, ENST00000505361, ENST00000508412, ENST00000509153, ENST00000509320, ENST00000510612, ENST00000513337, ENST00000514191, ENST00000514486, ENST00000553457, ENST00000555042, ENST00000555992, ENST00000557203, ENST00000850844, ENST00000850845, ENST00000892932, ENST00000892933, ENST00000892934, ENST00000892935, ENST00000943130

RefSeq mRNA: 8 — MANE Select: NM_015604 NM_001163508, NM_001163509, NM_001352447, NM_001352448, NM_001352449, NM_015604, NM_181340, NM_181341

CCDS: CCDS41968, CCDS55926, CCDS9809, CCDS9810

Canonical transcript exons

ENST00000358377 — 14 exons

ExonStartEnd
ENSE000010972987294588472946027
ENSE000011542147295416472954262
ENSE000020432527295861272959703
ENSE000034712597293980272939902
ENSE000034899627294714272947191
ENSE000034961117294174572941824
ENSE000035206187294022072940377
ENSE000035456827295638672956500
ENSE000035542187295552372955696
ENSE000035973317295179872951877
ENSE000035976667295438672954483
ENSE000036186207294299472943096
ENSE000036846287293797172938070
ENSE000042824767292646472926543

Expression profiles

Bgee: expression breadth ubiquitous, 219 present calls, max score 88.45.

FANTOM5 (CAGE): breadth ubiquitous, TPM avg 12.1875 / max 155.1186, expressed in 1770 samples.

FANTOM5 promoters (4 alternative TSS)

Promoter IDTPM avgSamples expressed
14049011.21671769
1404910.8817462
1404920.061327
1404930.027814

Top tissues by expression

269 total, by Bgee expression score (0-100, higher = more expressed):

TissueAnatomy IDExpression scoreQuality
primordial germ cell in gonadCL:0000670 ∩ UBERON:000099188.45gold quality
skin of legUBERON:000151187.06gold quality
left lobe of thyroid glandUBERON:000112086.83gold quality
skin of abdomenUBERON:000141686.76gold quality
body of pancreasUBERON:000115086.70gold quality
right lobe of thyroid glandUBERON:000111986.47gold quality
thyroid glandUBERON:000204686.25gold quality
right coronary arteryUBERON:000162585.37gold quality
cortical plateUBERON:000534385.11gold quality
gastrocnemiusUBERON:000138884.82gold quality
mucosa of transverse colonUBERON:000499184.82gold quality
left ovaryUBERON:000211984.76gold quality
right ovaryUBERON:000211884.53gold quality
right adrenal gland cortexUBERON:003582784.47gold quality
zone of skinUBERON:000001484.33gold quality
popliteal arteryUBERON:000225084.26gold quality
tibial arteryUBERON:000761084.24gold quality
ponsUBERON:000098884.12silver quality
muscle of legUBERON:000138383.91gold quality
metanephros cortexUBERON:001053383.45gold quality
aortaUBERON:000094783.42gold quality
sural nerveUBERON:001548883.40gold quality
right adrenal glandUBERON:000123383.18gold quality
ovaryUBERON:000099283.04gold quality
calcaneal tendonUBERON:000370182.63gold quality
ascending aortaUBERON:000149682.60gold quality
adrenal cortexUBERON:000123582.50gold quality
middle temporal gyrusUBERON:000277182.49gold quality
ectocervixUBERON:001224982.49gold quality
pancreasUBERON:000126482.42gold quality

Single-cell (SCXA)

Detected in 1 experiment(s), a significant marker in 0.

ExperimentMarker?Max mean expression
E-ANND-3no4.02

Regulation

Is transcription factor: no

miRNA regulators (miRDB)

27 targeting DCAF4, top 30 by miRDB confidence (max_score; target_count = how many genes the miRNA targets in total — lower means more specific):

miRNAMax scoreAvg scoremiRNA target_count
HSA-MIR-4262100.0073.263931
HSA-MIR-141-3P99.9472.792421
HSA-MIR-200A-3P99.9472.682420
HSA-MIR-449399.9066.48977
HSA-MIR-5582-3P99.8672.484221
HSA-MIR-129999.7771.242389
HSA-MIR-3158-5P99.6567.511763
HSA-MIR-302B-5P99.5069.491857
HSA-MIR-302D-5P99.5069.341863
HSA-MIR-1207-5P99.4969.112983
HSA-MIR-942-5P99.4168.401977
HSA-MIR-568399.3668.592083
HSA-MIR-148A-5P99.3068.271141
HSA-MIR-6719-3P99.2967.781387
HSA-MIR-4477B99.2370.491733
HSA-MIR-807799.1766.67862
HSA-MIR-4763-3P99.1067.832649
HSA-MIR-4650-3P99.0168.391062
HSA-MIR-3124-3P98.8768.952123
HSA-MIR-445198.8268.171455
HSA-MIR-126198.6268.10896
HSA-MIR-224-5P98.3370.121256
HSA-MIR-93-3P98.1566.651309
HSA-MIR-432-5P98.0068.13989
HSA-MIR-6865-3P97.5464.67684
HSA-MIR-1910-5P97.4266.36844
HSA-MIR-6816-3P95.0566.08459

Literature-anchored findings (GeneRIF, showing 3)

  • The minor allele of WDR21A may induce a good response to inhaled corticosteroids possibly through competition with the Gbeta(1) proteins for binding to GRs (PMID:22366774)
  • Genome-wide association (GWA) meta-analysis and de novo genotyping of 20 022 individuals revealed a novel association (p=6.4x10(-10)) between LTL and rs2535913, which lies within DCAF4 (PMID:25624462)
  • our results suggest that rs12587742 is associated with an increased lung cancer risk, possibly by up-regulating mRNA expression and decreasing methylation status of DCAF4. (PMID:28383684)

Cross-species orthologs

2 orthologs

OrganismSymbolGene ID
mus_musculusDcaf4ENSMUSG00000021222
rattus_norvegicusDcaf4ENSRNOG00000008399

Paralogs (26): PAFAH1B1 (ENSG00000007168), SNRNP40 (ENSG00000060688), WDR62 (ENSG00000075702), WDR7 (ENSG00000091157), TBL2 (ENSG00000106638), PAK1IP1 (ENSG00000111845), WDR75 (ENSG00000115368), DAW1 (ENSG00000123977), TEP1 (ENSG00000129566), AHI1 (ENSG00000135541), WDR38 (ENSG00000136918), MAPKBP1 (ENSG00000137802), POC1B (ENSG00000139323), NEDD1 (ENSG00000139350), COP1 (ENSG00000143207), WDR17 (ENSG00000150627), WDR43 (ENSG00000163811), POC1A (ENSG00000164087), WDR88 (ENSG00000166359), WDR81 (ENSG00000167716), DCAF4L2 (ENSG00000176566), DCAF4L1 (ENSG00000182308), WDR27 (ENSG00000184465), NWD1 (ENSG00000188039), WDR5 (ENSG00000196363), WDR5B (ENSG00000196981)

Protein

Protein identifiers

DDB1- and CUL4-associated factor 4Q8WV16 (reviewed: Q8WV16)

Alternative names: WD repeat-containing protein 21A

All UniProt accessions (4): Q8WV16, D6RCB5, G3V3D6, Q86SY2

UniProt curated annotations — full annotation on UniProt →

Function. May function as a substrate receptor for CUL4-DDB1 E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase complex.

Subunit / interactions. Interacts with DDB1 and CUL4A.

Pathway. Protein modification; protein ubiquitination.

Polymorphism. An intronic G-to-A transition (rs2535913) has been associated with leukocyte telomere length. The minor A allele is associated with shorter telomeres and lower expression in lymphoblastoid cells and in sun-exposed skin.

Isoforms (5)

UniProt IDNamesCanonical?
Q8WV16-11yes
Q8WV16-22
Q8WV16-33
Q8WV16-44
Q8WV16-55

RefSeq proteins (8): NP_001156980, NP_001156981, NP_001339376, NP_001339377, NP_001339378, NP_056419, NP_851937, NP_851938 (=MANE)

Domains & families (InterPro)

IDNameType
IPR001680WD40_rptRepeat
IPR015943WD40/YVTN_repeat-like_dom_sfHomologous_superfamily
IPR036322WD40_repeat_dom_sfHomologous_superfamily
IPR052254CUL4-DDB1_E3_ligase_receptorFamily

Pfam: PF23761

UniProt features (24 total): splice variant 6, sequence variant 6, sequence conflict 4, compositionally biased region 3, repeat 2, chain 1, helix 1, region of interest 1

Structure

Experimental structures (PDB)

1 structures.

PDBMethodResolution (Å)
3I8CX-RAY DIFFRACTION2.8

Predicted structure (AlphaFold)

ModelpLDDTFraction very-high
AF-Q8WV16-F177.340.34

Function

Pathways and Gene Ontology

Reactome pathways

1 pathways

IDPathway
R-HSA-8951664Neddylation

MSigDB gene sets: 128 (showing top): GSE18804_SPLEEN_MACROPHAGE_VS_TUMORAL_MACROPHAGE_UP, GRAESSMANN_APOPTOSIS_BY_DOXORUBICIN_UP, GRAESSMANN_RESPONSE_TO_MC_AND_DOXORUBICIN_UP, MORF_ZNF10, CREIGHTON_ENDOCRINE_THERAPY_RESISTANCE_1, chr14q24, GOBP_POST_TRANSLATIONAL_PROTEIN_MODIFICATION, MORF_EPHA7, MORF_IL9, MORF_DCC, GOCC_TRANSFERASE_COMPLEX, GAL_LEUKEMIC_STEM_CELL_UP, SANSOM_APC_TARGETS, GOCC_CUL4_RING_E3_UBIQUITIN_LIGASE_COMPLEX, GOCC_CULLIN_RING_UBIQUITIN_LIGASE_COMPLEX

GO Biological Process (1): protein ubiquitination (GO:0016567)

GO Molecular Function (1): protein binding (GO:0005515)

GO Cellular Component (2): nucleoplasm (GO:0005654), Cul4-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase complex (GO:0080008)

Reactome top-level categories

Rollup of top-1 pathways:

CategoryPathways
Post-translational protein modification1

GO top-level categories

Rollup of top GO terms by namespace:

CategoryTerms
protein modification by small protein conjugation1
binding1
nuclear lumen1
cellular anatomical structure1
cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase complex1

Protein interactions and networks

STRING

496 interactions, top by confidence (×1000):

Protein AProtein BPartner UniProtScore
DCAF4DDB1Q16531845
DCAF4DCAF12Q5T6F0610
DCAF4ZNF208O43345576
DCAF4DCAF5Q96JK2574
DCAF4ZNF676Q8N7Q3571
DCAF4DCAF8Q5TAQ9552
DCAF4RBX1P62877551
DCAF4DCAF6Q58WW2551
DCAF4ST7Q9NRC1527
DCAF4DDB2Q92466524
DCAF4DCAF10Q5QP82509
DCAF4ACYP2P14621507
DCAF4CUL4AQ13619471
DCAF4DCAF11Q8TEB1470
DCAF4LRRIQ4A6NIV6464

IntAct

99 interactions, top by confidence:

ABTypeScore
NOP10DKC1psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.890
COPS2GPS1psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.860
COPS8COPS2psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.850
CUL4BRBX1psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.820
DDB1DCAF4psi-mi:“MI:0407”(direct interaction)0.790
CUL4BCOPS2psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.790
DCAF4DDB1psi-mi:“MI:0915”(physical association)0.790
COPS6RHOBTB1psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.730
DKC1SHQ1psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.670
PFDN2POLR3Apsi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.670
CUL4ACOPS2psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.640
NEUROG3GXYLT2psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.640
CUL4ARBX1psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.640
POLR2FPOLR3Apsi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.640
GLMNFKBP5psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.640
CCT3TXNDC9psi-mi:“MI:0914”(association)0.640

BioGRID (578): DDB1 (Affinity Capture-Western), CUL4A (Affinity Capture-Western), CUL4B (Affinity Capture-Western), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS), DCAF4 (Affinity Capture-MS)

ESM2 similar proteins: A0A140LI67, A0A1W2PR48, A0JP70, D3YYM4, F1LW30, O13034, O15040, O70173, Q15345, Q3SXM0, Q3UDP0, Q3UJB9, Q3ULW6, Q3V129, Q3ZAV8, Q58DC2, Q5F479, Q5JV73, Q5M9H0, Q5M9H1, Q5R6T6, Q5R9H2, Q68DX3, Q6IRN0, Q6NV72, Q6P2E9, Q6P4K6, Q6PCD5, Q6ZPG2, Q6ZW76, Q7TNH6, Q80TQ5, Q8BLD6, Q8C008, Q8C5V5, Q8CBW4, Q8CIK8, Q8IWE5, Q8JZL1, Q8K1C9

Diamond homologs: Q3SXM0, Q58DC2, Q8NA75, Q8WV16, Q8RXA7

SIGNOR signaling

4 interactions.

AEffectBMechanism
DCAF4“up-regulates activity”OPTNbinding
DCAF4“up-regulates activity”Cullin4-RBX1-DDB1binding
DCAF4“down-regulates quantity by destabilization”ST7binding

Enriched among interaction partners

Reactome pathways and GO biological processes over-represented among this gene’s 93 IntAct physical interaction partners (hypergeometric vs the genome-wide background, BH-FDR, gene-set size 15–500, ranked by fold). A functional readout of the neighbourhood — distinct from this gene’s own memberships above, and biased toward well-studied / hub proteins, so read it as themes rather than proof.

Reactome pathways:

PathwayPartnersFoldFDR
DNA Damage Recognition in GG-NER1150.6×1e-14
Formation of TC-NER Pre-Incision Complex1240.9×1e-14
Transcription-Coupled Nucleotide Excision Repair (TC-NER)521.4×2e-04
Gap-filling DNA repair synthesis and ligation in TC-NER514.4×8e-04
Dual incision in TC-NER513.9×8e-04
Cargo recognition for clathrin-mediated endocytosis711.8×1e-04
Peptide chain elongation510.2×3e-03
Viral mRNA Translation510.2×3e-03

GO biological processes:

GO termPartnersFoldFDR
regulation of protein neddylation776.2×3e-10
protein neddylation865.3×5e-11
cytoplasmic translation510.8×6e-03
protein folding78.4×2e-03

Disease & clinical

Clinical variants and AI predictions

ClinVar

123 variants total. Per-class counts are floors (≥ shown; pagination cap):

ClassificationCount (floor)
Pathogenic0
Likely pathogenic0
Uncertain significance90
Likely benign16
Benign2

Top pathogenic / likely-pathogenic (0)

SpliceAI

2305 predictions. Top by Δscore:

VariantEffectΔscore
14:72926542:AGGTA:Adonor_loss1.0000
14:72926543:GGTA:Gdonor_loss1.0000
14:72926544:G:GGdonor_gain1.0000
14:72926545:T:Adonor_loss1.0000
14:72937969:A:ACacceptor_loss1.0000
14:72937969:A:AGacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72937969:AG:Aacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72937970:G:GCacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72937970:GG:Gacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72937970:GGAAC:Gacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72939800:A:Gacceptor_loss1.0000
14:72939899:CCAGG:Cdonor_loss1.0000
14:72939900:CAGGT:Cdonor_loss1.0000
14:72939901:AGGTA:Adonor_loss1.0000
14:72939902:GGT:Gdonor_loss1.0000
14:72940216:A:AGacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940217:A:Gacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940218:A:AGacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940219:G:GGacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940219:GA:Gacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940239:T:TAacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940245:T:TAacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940275:T:TAacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940276:G:Aacceptor_gain1.0000
14:72940357:G:GTdonor_gain1.0000
14:72940374:AAAGG:Adonor_loss1.0000
14:72940375:AAGG:Adonor_loss1.0000
14:72940376:AGGT:Adonor_loss1.0000
14:72940377:GGTGG:Gdonor_loss1.0000
14:72940378:G:GGdonor_gain1.0000

AlphaMissense

3237 scored. Top likely-pathogenic:

VariantProtein changeam_pathogenicity
14:72954256:A:CS301R0.999
14:72954258:T:AS301R0.999
14:72954258:T:GS301R0.999
14:72947157:T:AW232R0.998
14:72947157:T:CW232R0.998
14:72947191:T:CL243P0.998
14:72954223:T:AW290R0.998
14:72954223:T:CW290R0.998
14:72940261:T:CF79L0.997
14:72940263:C:AF79L0.997
14:72940263:C:GF79L0.997
14:72945909:T:CF187S0.997
14:72951842:T:CL258P0.997
14:72940231:T:CF69L0.996
14:72940233:T:AF69L0.996
14:72940233:T:GF69L0.996
14:72954254:T:CF300S0.996
14:72940262:T:CF79S0.995
14:72947159:G:CW232C0.995
14:72947159:G:TW232C0.995
14:72947161:C:AA233D0.995
14:72940258:T:GY78D0.994
14:72951800:T:CL244P0.994
14:72951842:T:AL258Q0.994
14:72954193:T:CF280L0.994
14:72954195:C:AF280L0.994
14:72954195:C:GF280L0.994
14:72954262:G:CG303R0.994
14:72956395:T:AW397R0.994
14:72956395:T:CW397R0.994

dbSNP variants (sampled 300 via entrez): RS1000087640 (14:72928368 T>C), RS1000176647 (14:72945525 T>C), RS1000226251 (14:72929849 G>A,T), RS1000291259 (14:72945164 A>C), RS1000363284 (14:72958336 G>A), RS1000390370 (14:72951551 C>T), RS1000403818 (14:72937224 G>GA), RS1000462549 (14:72931871 G>A), RS1000465598 (14:72924983 C>T), RS1000555627 (14:72931502 C>A,T), RS1000618491 (14:72953419 A>G), RS1000678723 (14:72951714 C>T), RS1000786590 (14:72926084 A>G), RS1000815839 (14:72935277 C>T), RS1000922417 (14:72930004 T>C)

Disease associations

OMIM: gene MIM:616372 | disease phenotypes:

GenCC curated gene-disease

Mondo (0):

Orphanet (0):

HPO phenotypes

0 total (0 of 0 shown, HPO-id order):

GWAS associations

11 associations (top):

StudyTraitp-value
GCST005863_29Menopause (age at onset)1.000000e-08
GCST005863_33Menopause (age at onset)3.000000e-08
GCST006814_6End-stage renal disease2.000000e-06
GCST008366_22Leukocyte telomere length9.000000e-09
GCST009391_1990Metabolite levels8.000000e-06
GCST009856_9Leukocyte telomere length2.000000e-08
GCST010002_156Refractive error7.000000e-25
GCST90002381_603Eosinophil count4.000000e-13
GCST90002382_226Eosinophil percentage of white cells4.000000e-15
GCST90002397_366Mean spheric corpuscular volume2.000000e-10
GCST90002405_372Reticulocyte count3.000000e-10

EFO canonical traits (5, from GWAS)

EFO IDTrait name
EFO:0004704age at menopause
EFO:0005058tyrosine measurement
EFO:0004842eosinophil count
EFO:0007991eosinophil percentage of leukocytes
EFO:0007986reticulocyte count

Drugs & pharmacology

Drug and pharmacology data

Is drug target: no

PharmGKB: 1 entry (VIP=true, CPIC=false)

PharmGKB clinical annotations

1 annotations.

VariantTypeLevelDrugsPhenotypes
rs7160796Efficacy3corticosteroidsAsthma

PharmGKB variants

3 variants.

VariantGenesLevelScore#Clin annotsDrugs
rs3213729DCAF40.000
rs7142086DCAF40.000
rs7160796DCAF432.001corticosteroids

CTD chemical–gene interactions

33 total (human), top 30 by PubMed support.

ChemicalActions (top 5)PubMed papers
Valproic Acidaffects cotreatment, increases expression, affects expression, increases methylation8
trichostatin Aaffects cotreatment, increases expression3
sodium arsenitedecreases expression, affects cotreatment, increases abundance, increases expression2
entinostatincreases expression, affects cotreatment2
Panobinostataffects cotreatment, increases expression2
Cyclosporineincreases expression2
Cadmium Chloridedecreases expression2
manganese chlorideincreases abundance, increases expression, affects cotreatment1
benzo(e)pyreneincreases methylation1
2,3-bis(3’-hydroxybenzyl)butyrolactoneaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
2-palmitoylglycerolincreases expression1
4-(5-benzo(1,3)dioxol-5-yl-4-pyridin-2-yl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzamideaffects cotreatment, increases expression1
dorsomorphinaffects cotreatment, increases expression1
(+)-JQ1 compounddecreases expression1
Resveratrolaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
Temozolomidedecreases expression1
Arsenicaffects cotreatment, increases abundance, increases expression1
Vehicle Emissionsincreases abundance, increases expression1
Coumestrolaffects cotreatment, decreases expression1
Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethyleneincreases expression1
Doxorubicindecreases expression1
Estradioldecreases expression1
Gallic Aciddecreases expression1
Hydrogen Peroxideaffects expression1
Manganeseincreases abundance, increases expression, affects cotreatment1
Methapyrileneincreases methylation1
Smokedecreases expression1
Thimerosaldecreases expression1
Thiramdecreases expression1
Tretinoindecreases expression1

Cellosaurus cell lines

1 cell lines: 1 cancer cell line

First 10 cell lines (id-ordered, not curated):

CellosaurusNameCategorySex
CVCL_E1LCHyCyte HT-29 KO-hDCAF4Cancer cell lineFemale

Clinical trials (associated diseases)

0 trials via MONDO — disease-level, not drug-specific.

No linked Atlas pages yet — the cross-entity mesh grows as the corpus expands.