Ubiquitin, a highly conserved protein of 76 amino acids found in all eukaryotes, is translated from mRNAs that contain either multiple, contiguous coding sequences of the protein or a single ubiquitin coding sequence fused to sequences coding for 52 or 76 amino acids. We describe here formation of monoubiquitin from in vitro translation of mRNAs containing either two complete sequences or one c...

Ubiquitylation regulates a multitude of biological processes and this versatility stems from the ability of ubiquitin (Ub) to form topologically different polymers of eight different linkage types. Whereas some linkages have been studied in detail, other linkage types including Lys33-linked polyUb are poorly understood. In the present study, we identify an enzymatic system for the large-scale a...

FAT10 is a ubiquitin-like protein modifier that is induced in vertebrates following certain inflammatory stimuli. Its functions and the repertoire of its target substrates have remained elusive. In contrast to ubiquitin, its cellular abundance is tightly controlled by both transcriptional and posttranslational regulation, and it was reported to be rapidly degraded by the proteasome. Here we pro...

The ubiquitination levels of protein substrates in eukaryotic cells are delicately orchestrated by various protein cofactors and enzymes. Dendritic cell-derived ubiquitin (Ub)-like protein (DC-UbP), also named as Ub domain-containing protein 2 (UBTD2), is a potential Ub shuttle protein comprised of a Ub-like (UbL) domain and a Ub-binding domain (UBD), but its biological function remains largely...

The ubiquitin-like modifier FAT10 targets proteins for degradation by the proteasome, a process accelerated by the UBL-UBA domain protein NEDD8 ultimate buster 1-long. Here, we show that FAT10-mediated degradation occurs independently of poly-ubiquitylation as purified 26S proteasome readily degraded FAT10-dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) but not ubiquitin-DHFR in vitro. Interestingly, the 26S pr...