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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Evaluation of Substrate Ubiquitylation by E3 Ubiquitin-ligase in Mammalian Cell Lysates
Published on: May 10, 2022
The coiled-coil domain of TRAF6 is essential for its auto-ubiquitination
Kai Yang1, Jianmei Zhu, Shaogang Sun
1Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, PR China.
Abstract:
Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) is a crucial signaling transducer that regulates a diverse array of physiological processes, including adaptive immunity, innate immunity, and bone metabolism. Importantly, it is essential for activating NF-kappaB signaling pathway in response to interleukin-1 and Toll-like receptor ligands. Previously, we characterized TRAF6 to be a ubiquitin ligase. In combination with the ubiquitin conjugating enzyme complex Ubc13/Uev1A, TRAF6 could catalyze the formation on itself of unique Lys-63 linked polyubiquitin chain that positively regulated NF-kappaB signaling pathway. However, it remains unknown how this auto-ubiquitination process is regulated. In this study, we found that the coiled-coil domain of TRAF6 was essential for its auto-ubiquitination and activating NF-kappaB signaling pathway. This domain served not as the specific target where the polyubiquitin chain was linked, but as a specific bridge to recruit Ubc13/Uev1A.
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