GUSBA - glucuronidase, beta, a Gene

The human homolog of this gene, GUSB, encodes a hydrolase that degrades glycosaminoglycans, including heparan sulfate, dermatan sulfate, and chondroitin-4,6-sulfate. In human, the enzyme forms a homotetramer that is localized to the lysosome. Mutations in the human gene result in mucopolysaccharidosis type VII. There are many pseudogenes of this locus in the human genome. Compared to human, the rhesus macaque genome has a segmental duplication of this locus and may have two functional GUSB genes (GUSBa and GUSBb). However the protein coding status of the rhesus GUSBa and GUSBb genes remains provisional since there are small gaps in the Mmul_051212 assembly at these two loci. ESTs from Other macaque species indicate that some macaque species can produce full-length GUSB transcripts. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2010]