Biological process

DesCEND

The chemical reactions and pathways resulting in the breakdown of a protein or peptide covalently tagged with ubiquitin, via the DesCEND (destruction via C-end degron) pathway. In the DesCEND pathway, C-terminal residues (C-end degrons) in substrates are recognized by Cul2-RING and Cul4-RING E3 ligases, whereupon the substrates are linked to ubiquitin and then delivered to the proteasome for degradation. C-end degrons can be present in full-length proteins, truncated proteins or proteolytically cleaved forms.