title: Searching for the boundaries: unlimited expansion of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like signals in multiple cellular functions.
abstract: The ubiquitin-proteasome field has matured, as is evident from the wide diversity of systems and mechanisms in which it participates and that are the subject of investigation, presented in the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System, Dynamics and Targeting meeting held in Barcelona, co-sponsored by the Biochemical Society, the Spanish Ministry of Science, the Spanish Research Council and the Catalan Academy of Sciences. Several of the aspects dealt with in the meeting are discussed in detail in the collection of review papers included in this issue of Biochemical Society Transactions. These papers reflect the importance of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifiers as enormously versatile signalling entities that modulate and direct pathways in specific directions through modification-induced interactions. One conclusion from the meeting is that the field has become so rich and dense that, in order to be useful and informative, future meetings may need to focus on particular aspects of the ubiquitin-proteasome system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Baldiri i Reixac, 15-21, Barcelona 08028, Spain. bernat.crosas@ibmb.csic.es
authors.forename: Bernat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crosas
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Farràs
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marfany
authors.forename: Manuel S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Thomson
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D004249:DNA Damage; D004260:DNA Repair; D055808:Drug Discovery; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D025841:Small Ubiquitin-Related Modifier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000378:metabolism*; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000378:metabolism; D014452:Ubiquitins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D025841:Small Ubiquitin-Related Modifier Proteins; D025801:Ubiquitin; D014452:Ubiquitins; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex