Ubiquitination of chemokine receptors.

Ubiquitin modification of proteins has traditionally been linked to proteasomal degradation, but it is now well established that it also serves nonproteasomal functions, such as DNA repair, signal transduction and endocytic trafficking among others. It is now emerging that G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) downregulation is mediated by receptor ubiquitination. For example, agonist-dependent ubiquitination of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 by the E3 ubiquitin ligase AIP4 (atrophin interacting protein 4) targets CXCR4 for degradation in lysosomes. The ubiquitin moiety on CXCR4 serves as a signal on endosomes for entry into the degradative pathway and long-term attenuation of signaling or downregulation. Several GPCRs have been shown to be ubiquitinated, and ubiquitin-dependent trafficking may represent a general mechanism by which GPCRs are targeted to lysosomes, although some GPCRs that are targeted to lysosomes may not be directly regulated by ubiquitination. Here we describe a simple biochemical assay that we have used to study the ubiquitination of CXCR4 that can be easily applied to study the ubiquitination of any GPCR.