What is "apobec"

300px|thumb|upright|alt = Colored dice with checkered background|Example of a member of the APOBEC family, APOBEC-2. A cytidine deaminase from Homo sapiens. APOBEC ("apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like") is a family of evolutionarily conserved proteins.

A mechanism of generating protein diversity is mRNA editing. Members of this family are C-to-U editing enzymes. The N-terminal domain of APOBEC like proteins is the catalytic domain, while the C-terminal domain is a pseudocatalytic domain. More specifically, the catalytic domain is a zinc dependent cytidine deaminase domain and is essential for cytidine deamination. RNA editing by APOBEC-1 requires homodimerisation and this complex interacts with RNA binding proteins to form the editosome. A recent review discussed the structural and biophysical aspects of APOBEC3 family enzymes. Much of the APOBEC protein features are described in the widely studied APOBEC3G's page.