Protein ubiquitinylation plays a key role in many important cellular processes. Ubiquitinylation requires the E1 ubiquitin-activating enzyme, an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, and, frequently, a substrate-specific E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase. In one class of E3 ubiquitin ligases, the catalytic domain contains a zinc-binding RING finger motif. ARD1 (ADP-ribosylation factor domain protein 1), initially cloned in this laboratory, contains a RING finger domain in the N-terminal region, two predicted B-Boxes, and a coiled-coil protein interaction motif immediately preceding an ADP-ribosylaiton factor domain at the C terminus, belongs to the TRIM (Tripartite motif) or RBCC (RING, B-Box, coiled-coil) family. The region containing the B-Boxes and the coiled-coil motif acts as a GTPase-activating protein for the ADP-ribosylation factor domain of ARD1. We report here that full-length ARD1 or the RING finger domain (residues 1-110) produced polyubiquitinylated proteins in vitro in the presence of mammalian E1, and E2 enzyme (UbcH6 or UbcH5a, -5b, or -5c), ATP, and ubiquitin. Deletion of the RING region or point mutations within the RING sequence abolished ARD1 E3 ligase activity. All data are consistent with a potential function for ARD1 as an E3 ubiquitin ligase in cells.
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