The genomic 'golden age' has delivered the sequence ofnumerous novel genes while
leaving us with many unanswered questions about their function . This is particularly
true for gene families as, often, members are annotated based on homology rather
than function . The tripartite motif family belonged to this category, although, during
the last few years , the field boosted an important wealth of biochemical, cellular and
physiological breakthrough data. In the first part of this book, we attempt to offer an
overview ofstate-of-the-art basic findings on the tripartite motif(TRIM , also known as
RBCC) family members and to deal in the second part with their relevant and growing
physiological and pathological roles .