Ubiquitin


A small but extremely important protein that acts the “kiss of death” to other proteins. Ubiquitin consists of only 76 amino acids. In the normal course of events, proteins are inactivated by the attachment of ubiquitin to them, a process called ubiquitination. Ubiquitin acts as a tag by which the protein-transport machinery ferries a protein to the proteasome for degradation. Antagonizing this process are enzymes that remove ubiquitin from proteins.

Ubiquitin is appropriately named since it is ubiquitous and is present in virtually all types of cells. It is also one of the most highly conserved (least changed) proteins during evolution. The amino acid sequence of ubiquitin is identical in all creatures from insects to humans. Evolution has not changed it.

The cell functions as a highly-efficient checking station where proteins are built up and broken down at a rapid rate. The degradation is not indiscriminate but takes place through a process that is controlled in detail so that the proteins to be broken down at any given moment are given a molecular label.This label has been called a “kiss of death.” The labelled proteins are then fed into the cells’ “waste disposers”, the so called proteasomes, where they are chopped into small pieces and destroyed.

The kiss-of-death is ubiquitin. It fastens to the protein to be destroyed, accompanies it to the proteasome where it is recognised as the key in a lock, and signals that a protein is on the way for disassembly. Shortly before the protein is squeezed into the proteasome, its ubiquitin label is disconnected for re-use.

In 2004, Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel and Irwin Rose of the University of California, Irvine, USA shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.”

Read Also:

  • Ubiquitous

    Present everywhere. The small protein called ubiquitin was so-named because it is present in all types of cells and its amino acid sequence is identical in all creatures from insects to humans.

  • UDP-glucuronosyltransferase

    A liver enzyme essential to the disposal of bilirubin (the chemical that results from the normal breakdown of hemoglobin from red blood cells). An abnormality of this enzyme (UDP-glucuronosyltransferase) results in a condition called Gilbert’s disease in which there are mild elevations of bilirubin pigment in the blood. The elevated bilirubin pigment can sometimes cause […]

  • UGA

    A triplet consisting of uracil,guanine, adenine, in that order, that acts as a stop codon in messenger RNA (mRNA), signaling the termination of translation of an mRNA molecule and the release of the nascent polypeptide chain.

  • UL

    1. Upper lid (of the eye). 2. Upper limit. No evidence was found for chronic excess intakes of potassium in apparently health individuals and therefore no UL was established for potassium.

  • Ulcer

    A lesion that is eroding away the skin or mucous membrane. Ulcers can have various causes, depending on their location. Ulcers on the skin are usually due to irritation, as in the case of bedsores, and may become inflamed and/or infected as they grow. Ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract were once attributed to stress, but […]


Disclaimer: Ubiquitin definition / meaning should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. All content on this website is for informational purposes only.