Degron

A degron is a portion of a protein that is important in regulation of protein degradation rates. Known degrons include short amino acid sequences, structural motifs and exposed amino acids (often Lysine or Arginine) located anywhere in the protein. In fact, some proteins can even contain multiple degrons. Degrons are present in a variety of organisms, from the N-degrons (see N-end Rule) first characterized in yeast to the PEST sequence of mouse ornithine decarboxylase. Degrons have been identified in prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes. While there are many types of different degrons, and a high degree of variability even within these groups, degrons are all similar for their involvement in regulating the rate of a protein’s degradation. Much like protein degradation (see proteolysis) mechanisms are categorized by their dependence or lack thereof on Ubiquitin, a small protein involved in proteasomal protein degradation, degrons are also be referred to as “Ubiquitin-dependent" or “Ubiquitin-independent".