This gene encodes a protein that is a member of the SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) protein family. It functions in a manner similar to ubiquitin in that it is bound to target proteins as part of a post-translational modification system. However, unlike ubiquitin which targets proteins for degradation, this protein is involved in a variety of cellular processes, such as nuclear transport, transcriptional regulation, apoptosis, and protein stability. It is not active until the last two amino acids of the carboxy-terminus have been cleaved off. Numerous pseudogenes have been reported for this gene. Alternate transcriptional splice variants, encoding different isoforms, have been characterized.,SUMO2,HSMT3,SMT3B,SMT3H2,SUMO3,Smt3A,Cell Biology & Developmental Biology,Ubiquitin,Endocrine & Metabolism,Mitochondrial metabolism,Immunology & Inflammation,IL-6 Receptor Signaling Pathway,NF-kB Signaling Pathway,SUMO2