This gene is a member of the methionyl aminopeptidase family and encodes a protein that binds 2 cobalt or manganese ions. This protein functions both by protecting the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 from inhibitory phosphorylation and by removing the amino-terminal methionine residue from nascent protein. Increased expression of this gene is associated with various forms of cancer and the anti-cancer drugs fumagillin and ovalicin inhibit the protein by irreversibly binding to its active site. A pseudogene of this gene is located on chromosome 2. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]. Publication Note: This RefSeq record includes a subset of the publications that are available for this gene. Please see the Gene record to access additional publications.
Function: Removes the amino-terminal methionine from nascent proteins. The catalytic activity of human METAP2 toward Met-Val peptides is consistently two orders of magnitude higher than that of METAP1, suggesting that it is responsible for processing proteins containing N-terminal Met-Val and Met-Thr sequences in vivo.