Viruses and the 26S proteasome: hacking into destruction

Abstract

The discovery that the human papillomavirus E6 oncoprotein could direct the ubiquitination and degradation of the p53 tumour suppressor at the 26S proteasome was the beginning of a new view on virus-host interactions. A decade later, a plethora of viral proteins have been shown to direct host-cell proteins for proteolytic degradation. These activities are required for various aspects of the virus life-cycle from entry, through replication and enhanced cell survival, to viral release. As with oncogenes and cell-cycle control, the study of apparently simple viruses has provided a wealth of information on the function of a whole class of cellular proteins whose function is arguably as important as that of the kinases: the ubiquitin-protein ligases.