# Deciphering a second component to the proteasomal degradation code

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2020 · $395,546

## Abstract

Summary/Abstract
Several neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the unintended accumulation of toxic proteins, and
some transformed cells induce the degradation of tumor suppressor proteins. Understanding the mechanisms
that undermine proteasomal degradation in disease will help design targeted approaches to interfere in the
pathological processes.
The concentrations of cellular proteins are determined by the balance of synthesis and degradation, and most
of the regulated degradation occurs by the Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS). The long-term goal of this
research project is to develop a quantitative understanding of the UPS. The protease at the center of the UPS,
the proteasome, degrades regulatory proteins and removes misfolded and damaged proteins as part of the
cell's stress response. Thus, the proteasome faces the challenge of having to be able to degrade any protein
but doing so with exquisite specificity. Proteins are targeted to the proteasome by ubiquitin tags but ubiquitin is
also used as a signal in many other cellular processes. We therefore do not fully understand exactly how the
tags specify the fate of a protein.
We propose to elucidate the missing part of the protein degradation code. The degradation signal, or degron,
contains a second component in the form of a disordered region in the target protein at which the proteasome
initiates degradation. The proteasome has pronounced preferences for the amino acid sequence of the
initiation site and we propose that recognition of the initiation region represents the second component of the
degradation code. We will characterize this initiation code and investigate how it interacts with the ubiquitin
code to determine the fate of proteins.
In Aim 1 we will define the rules by which the proteasome selects its substrates at the initiation step of
degradation. We will employ a large screen of a library of all human protein coding sequences to determine
the proteasome's amino acid sequence preferences at initiation. We will also test how the sequence
preferences affect the degradation natural proteins in cells, and investigate how the protein that accumulates in
Huntington's Disease escapes proteasomal degradation. Aim 2 investigates how the proteasome recognizes
ubiquitin tags during degradation and how this recognition step and the initiation step affect each other to tune
protein degradation rates. We will also investigate how the relationships we discover affect natural proteins
and processes in cells. The results of these experiments can ideally be used to design therapies for
neurodegenerative diseases and other conditions caused by defects in protein degradation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9989620
- **Project number:** 5R01GM124501-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** ANDREAS MATOUSCHEK
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $395,546
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9989620

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9989620, Deciphering a second component to the proteasomal degradation code (5R01GM124501-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9989620. Licensed CC0.

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