The SOCS box: a tale of destruction and degradation

• Published in: Trends in Biochemical Sciences Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 235 - 241
• Main Authors: Kile, Benjamin T, Schulman, Brenda A, Alexander, Warren S, Nicola, Nicos A, Martin, Helene M.E, Hilton, Douglas J
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2002
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Carrier Proteins - chemistry; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Cytokines; Cytokines - metabolism; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Ligases - metabolism; Models, Biological; Molecular Sequence Data; Protein degradation; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Repressor Proteins; Sequence Alignment; Signal Transduction - physiology; Signaling; Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1 Protein; Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; Ubiquitination; Signaling; Ubiquitination; Protein degradation; Cytokines; Cell biology; Biochemistry; Structural biology
• ISSN: 0968-0004; 1362-4326
• DOI: 10.1016/S0968-0004(02)02085-6

Although initially identified in the suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) family of proteins, the C-terminal SOCS box has now been identified in more than 40 proteins in nine different families. Growing evidence suggests that the SOCS box, similar to the F-box, acts as a bridge between specific substrate-binding domains and the more generic proteins that comprise a large family of E3 ubiquitin protein ligases. In this way, SOCS proteins regulate protein turnover by targeting proteins for polyubiquitination and, therefore, for proteasome-mediated degradation. The SOCS box, originally identified as a motif present in negative regulators of cytokine signaling, now appears to play an important role in targeting a wide range of proteins for ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation.