Anaphase-Promoting Complex, also called cyclosome (APC/C), is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that marks target cell cycle proteins for degradation by the 26S proteasome. The APC/C is a large complex of 11–13 subunit proteins, including a cullin (Apc2) and RING (Apc11) subunit much like SCF. Other parts of the APC/C still have unknown functions, but are highly conserved.
It was the discovery of the APC/C (and SCF) and the key role that they have in eukaryotic cell reproduction that established once and for all the importance of ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis in eukaryotic cell biology. Once perceived as a system exclusively involved in removing damaged protein from the cell, ubiquitination and subsequent protein degradation by the proteasome is now perceived as a universal regulatory mechanism for signal transduction whose importance approaches that of protein phosphorylation.
Read more about Anaphase-promoting Complex: Function, APC/C Subunits, Substrate Recognition, Metaphase To Anaphase Transition, M To G1 Transition, Additional APC/C Regulation
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