Protein posttranslational modification with peptide tags ubiquitin or small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) orchestrate multiple cellular events to ensure normal physiology. These simple enzymatic activities maintain homeostasis of protein modification and normal cell function. This book addresses major proteases - ubiquitin and/or SUMO proteases - involved in posttranslational modification of proteins. Themes reviewed include the difficulty of assigning substrate specificity to the individual de-ubiquitylases (DUBs), selectivity for processing ubiquitin poly-chains, and defining substrate profiles for the different SUMO proteases. Key selling features: Assigns substrate specificity to enzymes that constitute the de-ubiquitylase (DUB) family Describes DUBs selectivity for processing select ubiquitin poly-chains Defines substrate profiles for the different small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteases Explores enzymatic activity of individual Ubiquitin/SUMO proteases

Author Biography

Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe is Assistant Professor in the Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry of the University of Houston. The research focus of the Bawa-Khalfe laboratory is on how cancer cells exploit select post-translational modification (PTM) systems to drive cancer progression. Jinke Cheng is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.