title: The unravelling of the ubiquitin system.
abstract: Today, many scientific discoveries are made using a top-down experimental approach. The ubiquitin system was discovered using a 'classic' bottom-up approach to tackle the question: 'how are cellular proteins selectively degraded?' A simple proteolytic assay, which used a crude cell-extract, was all that was required to address this question; it was followed by fractionation and reconstitution experiments to decipher the role of the components in this multi-step process. This 'biochemistry at its best' approach, which was published in a periodical that today would not be regarded as highly visible, provided magnificent findings.
authors.affiliation: Cancer and Vascular Biology Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 31096, Israel.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciechanover
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000378:metabolism; D059748:Proteolysis; D012156:Reticulocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D043743:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D025801:Ubiquitin; D043743:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex