Interactions within the ubiquitin pathway of Caenorhabditis elegans

The ubiquitin system is a well-conserved and pervasive process for post-synthetic modification of proteins. Three key components of the pathway are required for ubiquitination to occur: the E1 ubiquitin activating enzyme, the E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, and the E3 ubiquitin ligase. There are several different E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzymes and an even greater number of E3 ubiquitin ligases. Interactions between these two groups are critical for substrate ubiquitination. This study reports a two-hybrid analysis of interactions within the ubiquitin system of Caenorhabditis elegans. Forty-three RING finger proteins (presumed E3 ubiquitin ligases) and 14 predicted E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzymes were included in the screen. A total of 31 E2-E3 interactions were uncovered. In addition, the UBC-13 conjugating enzyme was observed to interact with two different E2s, UEV-1 and UBC-1. The interaction of UBC-1 and UBC-13 was confirmed with in vitro ubiquitination reactions. Using NHL-1 as the E3 in the assays, ubiquitination was observed when both UBC-1 and UBC-13 were present but not with either alone. These data imply that some E2s require dimerization in order to function.