Ubiquitin by Peder

Ubiquitin is a very small protein of only 76 amino acids. It is so named because it is ubiquitous; it can be found almost anywhere. This is true for in the human body and any other creature. It has remained one of the least changed proteins during evolution making it so abundant and so wide spread.
Ubiquitin is used in the degradation of other proteins. This process was discovered by Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, and Irwin Rose who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2004 for their fundamental discoveries in this process. Ubiquitin is used as a tag that, when attached to unwanted proteins, acts as a key to allow them into the proteasome. In the proteasome these proteins are broken down and the ubiquitin gets reused.
Ubuiquitin and the ubiquitin proteasome system described above are important in cell cycle division, different DNA processes, quality control, and other protein related processes in the cell. Problems in this system have been linked with cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and inflammatory diseases. Currently drugs are being created that could be used to modulate the ubiquitin proteasome system in an effort to cure some of these diseases.

Works Cited

"Definition of Ubiquitin." MedicineNet. 06 Oct. 2004. 22 Oct. 2007 .

Reinstein, Eyal, and Aaron Ciechanover. "Narrative Review: Protein Degradation and Human Diseases: the Ubiquitin Connection." Annals of Internal Medicine. 07 Nov. 2006. American College of Physicians. 22 Oct. 2007

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Thelander, Lars. "Ubiquitin-Mediated Proteolysis." www.kva.se. 06 Oct. 2004. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 22 Oct. 2007

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