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Nature 453, 460-461 (22 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/453460a; Published online 21 May 2008

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Cell biology: Two hands for degradation

Yasushi Saeki1 & Keiji Tanaka1

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Living cells must do away with regulatory proteins that are not needed. News comes of a considerable advance in understanding how the main agent of destruction, the proteasome, catches its targets.

The 26S proteasome is a formidable piece of equipment — it is one of the principal cellular machines for carrying out the essential task of degrading proteins. Proteins to be destroyed are marked with tags in the form of the small protein ubiquitin, and when the proteasome encounters such polyubiquitinated proteins, it catches, then degrades them.

  1. Yasushi Saeki and Keiji Tanaka are at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 3-18-22 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8613, Japan.
    Email: saeki@rinshoken.or.jp
    Email: tanakak@rinshoken.or.jp

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