ubiquitin

Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.

Jennifer Johnston discusses how a better understanding of ubiquitin-proteasome system elements can potentially aid neurodegenerative disease therapeutics.

The structure and function of the cell's protein-degrading machine

Irwin “Ernie” Rose, who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, has passed away at age 88.

A Harvard team shows how cells label and recognize proteins for degradation.

Senior Scientist, Millennium Pharmaceuticals: The Takeda Oncology Company Age: 39

Present in every tissue of the body, ubiquitin appears to be involved in a dizzying array of functions, from cell cycle and division to organelle and ribosome biogenesis, as well as the response to viral infection. The protein plays at least two role

Senior Investigator, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Age 40

More than simply helping haul out a cell’s garbage, ubiquitin, with its panoply of chain lengths and shapes, marks and regulates many unrelated cellular processes.

Despite its discovery as a protein that seems to show up everywhere, at least in eukaryotic cells, researchers are only beginning to scratch the surface of all of the cellular functions involving ubiquitin. 

Editor's choice in drug development

Editor's choice in immunology

The minority of Parkinson’s cases now known to have genetic origins are shedding light on the cellular mechanisms of all the rest, bringing researchers closer to a cause—and perhaps a cure.

Ubiquitin-related research has made the transition from the basic to clinical arena in the past decade, and the field is now central to understanding diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative disorders.