Metabolism of the polyubiquitin degradation signal: structure, mechanism, and role of isopeptidase T.

A necessary step in ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis is the addition of a polyubiquitin chain to the target protein. This ubiquitinated protein is degraded by a multisubunit complex known as the 26S proteasome. The polyubiquitin chain is probably not released until a late stage in the proteolysis by the proteasome. It is subsequently disassembled to yield functional ubiquitin monomers. Here we present evidence that a 93 kDa protein, isopeptidase T, has the properties expected for the enzyme which disassembles these branched polyubiquitin chains. Protein and cDNA sequencing revealed that isopeptidase T is a member of the ubiquitin specific protease family (UBP). Isopeptidase T disassembles branched polyubiquitin chains (linked by the G76-K48 isopeptide bond) by a sequential exo mechanism, starting at the proximal end of the chain (the proximal ubiquitin contains a free carboxyl-terminus). Isopeptidase T prefers to disassemble chains in which there is an intact and unblocked RGG sequence at the C-terminus of the proximal subunit. Rates of disassembly are reduced when G76 of the proximal ubiquitin is modified, for example, by ligation to substrate protein, by esterification, by replacement of the proximal glycine with alanine (G76A), or by truncation. Linear proubiquitin is only a poor substrate. Observed rates and specificity are consistent with isopeptidase T playing a major role in disassembly of polyubiquitin chains. The high discrimination against chains that are blocked or modified at the proximal end indicates that the enzyme acts after release of the chains from conjugated proteins or degradation intermediates. Thus, the proteolytic degradation signal is not disassembled by isopeptidase T before the ubiquitinated protein is degraded. These (and earlier) results suggest that UBP isozymes may exhibit significant substrate specificity, consistent with a role in the regulated catabolism of the polymeric ubiquitin, including the polyubiquitin protein degradation signal.

Structure and activities of a variant ubiquitin sequence from bakers' yeast.

Ubiquitin is an extremely conserved protein, with an identical sequence throughout the animal kingdom. However, the gene sequence of the yeast protein [Ozkaynak, E., Finley, D., & Varshavsky, A. (1984) Nature (London) 312, 663-666] predicts three amino acid differences. This implies that some functions or binding interactions of ubiquitin are different in yeast and animal cells. In an effort to define these differences, ubiquitin has been purified to homogeneity from bakers' yeast and characterized. Amino acid analysis of the protein and the isolated tryptic peptides confirms the primary structure of this protein as predicted from the gene sequence. This result indicates that the gene sequenced is the transcriptionally active gene from yeast. The conformation of yeast ubiquitin is similar to human ubiquitin as judged by circular dichroism, sensitivity to trypsin, and Stokes radius. Yeast and animal ubiquitins show identical activities in supporting ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation and in the ATP-pyrophosphate exchange reaction catalyzed by the purified ubiquitin-adenylating enzyme. Thus, the three conservative amino acid differences between yeast and animal ubiquitins have very little effect on the structure of ubiquitin or its activity in the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic system. These results suggest that at least some of the evolutionary pressure preventing sequence variation among animal ubiquitins stems from one or more of its nonproteolytic functions.