Ubiquitin - omics reveals novel networks and associations with human disease

Human neurodegenerative and infectious diseases and tumorigenesis are associated with alterations in ubiquitin pathways. Over 10% of the genome encode for genes that either bind or manipulate ubiquitin to affect a large proportion of biological processes. This has been the basis for the development of approaches allowing the enrichment of ubiquitinated proteins for comparisons using proteomics and mass spectrometry. Tools such as tagged tandem ubiquitin binding domains, chemically derivatized ubiquitin or anti-gly-gly-lys antibodies combined with mass spectrometry have contributed to surveys of poly-ubiquitinated proteins, poly-ubiquitin linkage diversity and protein ubiquitination sites and their relation to other posttranslational modifications at a proteome wide level, providing insights in to how dynamic alterations in ubiquitination and deubiquitination steps are associated with normal physiology and pathogenesis.