The N-end rule relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. The N-end rule pathway, ubiquitin-dependent in eukaryotes, is also present in prokaryotes, which lack the ubiquitin system. An illuminating new study presents the crystal structure of a bacterial N-end rule recognition component in complex with a peptide containing a cognate degradation signal.
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Acknowledgements
I thank C. Brower, R. Deshaies, D. Finley, M. Hochstrasser, A. Shemorry and W. Tansey for comments. Studies in my laboratory are supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health, the Ellison Medical Foundation and the Sandler Program for Asthma Research.
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Varshavsky, A. The N-end rule at atomic resolution. Nat Struct Mol Biol 15, 1238–1240 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb1208-1238
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb1208-1238
