Mechanistic insights into active site-associated polyubiquitination by the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Ube2g2.

ABSTRACT: Lys-48-linked polyubiquitination regulates a variety of cellular processes by targeting ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Although polyubiquitination had been presumed to occur by transferring ubiquitin molecules, one at a time, from an E2 active site to a substrate, we recently showed that the endoplasmic reticulum-associated RING finger ubiquitin ligase gp78 can mediate the preassembly of Lys-48-linked polyubiquitin chains on the catalytic cysteine of its cognate E2 Ube2g2 and subsequent transfer to a substrate. Active site-linked polyubiquitin chains are detected in cells on Ube2g2 and its yeast homolog Ubc7p, but how these chains are assembled is unclear. Here, we show that gp78 forms an oligomer via 2 oligomerization sites, one of which is a hydrophobic segment

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2644258 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature