Ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation in Xenopus egg extracts

Events controlling cell division are governed by the degradation of different regulatory proteins by the ubiquitin-dependent pathway. In this pathway, the attachment of a polyubiquitin chain to a substrate by an ubiquitin-ligase targets this substrate for degradation. Xenopus egg extracts present many advantages for the study of the cell cycle, including the availability of a large quantity of material synchronized at a particular phase of the cell cycle. In this chapter, we describe various protocols used in Xenopus egg extracts to study the ubiquitination and degradation of different cell cycle regulators. We first provide the method used to obtain interphase- and metaphase II-arrested egg extracts. Subsequently, we describe the protocol employed in these extracts to test the putative ubiquitination and degradation of a protein. Moreover, we describe a detailed practical procedure to test the role of different regulators in the ubiquitin-dependent degradation pathway of a specific protein. To that, we show how to eliminate some of these regulators from the extracts by immunodepletion and how to activate ectopically their function by the translation of their messenger ribonucleic acid. Finally, the Notes provide a series of practical details that explain the different problems that can occur and the possible solutions used to overcome them.