The evolutionarily conserved cullin family proteins can assemble as many as 400 distinct E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes that regulate diverse cellular pathways. CUL4, one of three founding cullins conserved from yeast to humans, uses a large β-propeller protein, DDB1, as a linker to interact with a subset of WD40 proteins that serve as substrate receptors, forming as many as 90 E3 complexes in mammals. Many CRL4 complexes are involved in chromatin regulation and are frequently hijacked by different viruses.
Cullins: the scaffoldThe ubiquitin pathway regulates a wide range of diverse cellular processes by covalently attaching ubiquitin to specific substrate proteins either to alter their functions nonproteolytically or more commonly to promote their degradation by the 26S proteosome [1]. Ubiquitylation begins with the ATP dependent activation of ubiquitin by the E1 enzyme, and is followed by the subsequent transfer of ubiquitin to an E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, and finally an E3 ubiquitin ligase is responsible for recognizing a specific substrate and promoting ubiquitin ligation. Over a thousand distinct E3 ligases, belonging to two major families, the HECT family and the RING family, are present in higher eukaryotes. Human cells contain as many as 28 HECT proteins and most, if not all, are believed to function as E3 ligases. More than 450 RING proteins are expressed in human cells and E3 ligase activity has been experimentally demonstrated for many of them.Although not containing a RING domain themselves, members of the evolutionarily conserved cullin family can bind with a small RING protein, either ROC1 or ROC2 (for RING of Cullins; also known as Rbx and Hrt1), to constitute a large family of cullin-RING E3 ligases (CRLs). There are three cullins in yeast, six in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster (CUL1-6), up to nine in Arabidopsis thaliana, and six in humans (CUL1, 2, 3, 4A, 4B and 5). In addition, three other proteins, CUL7 and CUL9 (also known as PARC) in mammals and APC2 (anaphase promoting complex subunit 2) in all eukaryotes, contain significant sequence homology to cullins over a ~180 residue region and bind ROC or a homologous small RING protein, APC11. Unlike other RING E3 ligases, cullins do not bind substrates directly, but rather rely on substrate recruiting receptors that are typically joined to the cullin complex by a linker protein (Fig. 1). Remarkably, each cullin can associate with a different family of substrate receptors, leading to the assembly of as many as 400 distinct CRLs. A recent estimate suggests that 20% of all proteins subject to proteasomal degradation are targeted by CRLs [2].Corresponding author: Xiong, Y. (yxiong@email.unc.edu). Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable ...