title: Ubiquitin, proteasome and parkin.
abstract: The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is important for intracellular proteolysis, and is responsible for a diverse array of biologically important cellular processes, such as cell-cycle progression, signaling cascades and developmental programs. This system is also involved in the protein quality control, which maintains the health of the cell. Thus, the UPS provides a clue for understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying various neurodegenerative diseases. In the last decade, we witnessed a tremendous progress in uncovering the mechanisms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Of the several genes that can cause familial PD, parkin, the causative gene of autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (ARJP), is of a special interest because it encodes an ubiquitin-protein ligase, which covalently attaches ubiquitin to target proteins, designating them for destruction by the proteasome. This review summarizes recent studies on the UPS pathway with a special reference to parkin, focusing on how parkin is linked to the pathogenesis of ARJP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Oncology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 3-18-22 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Nobutaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Yoshikuni
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizuno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000502:physiology*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D025801:Ubiquitin; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; C111567:parkin protein; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex