SAE1 is part of the ubiquitin-activating E1 family of proteins and participates in the significant first step of the UBL1 conjugation pathway. Proteins conjugated to Ub are marked for progressive degradation by the 26S Proteasome. SAE1 acts as a UBLI E1 ligase mediating the ATP-dependent activation of UBL1. SAE1 binds with UBLE1A and UBLE1B to form a heterodimer which can bind UBL1. SAE1 is a dimeric enzyme that takes part as a E1 ligase for SUMO1， SUMO2， SUMO3， and probably SUMO4. SAE1 regulates ATP-dependent activation of SUMO proteins and formation of a thioester with a conserved cysteine residue on SAE2.
