Intracellular Protein Degradation: From a Vague Idea Thru the Lysosome and the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System and onto Human Diseases and Drug Targeting *

Abstract excerpt

Between the 1950s and 1980s, scientists were focusing mostly on how the genetic code is transcribed to RNA and translated to proteins, but how proteins are degraded has remained a neglected research area. With the discovery of the lysosome by Christian de Duve it was assumed that cellular proteins are degraded within this organelle. Yet, several independent lines of experimental evidence strongly suggested that...