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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

In Vitro Analysis of E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Function
Published on: May 14, 2021
Multitasking with ubiquitin through multivalent interactions
1Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
Abstract:
Ubiquitylation - the post-translational modification of proteins with ubiquitin - serves powerful regulatory roles in eukaryotes. It can label proteins for destruction or activate gene transcription. Despite its versatility, ubiquitin is used to signal for cellular events with exquisite specificity. To achieve both versatility and specificity, ubiquitin signaling pathways use multivalency, namely the coordinated use of multiple interaction surfaces. Multivalent interactions regulate each stage of ubiquitin signaling pathways, and appear within the ubiquitin signal, the ubiquitylated substrate, ubiquitin processing enzymes and ubiquitin recognition proteins.
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