A conserved quality-control pathway that mediates degradation of unassembled ribosomal proteins

Overproduced yeast ribosomal protein (RP) Rpl26 fails to assemble into ribosomes and is degraded in the nucleus/nucleolus by a ubiquitin-proteasome system quality control pathway comprising the E2 enzymes Ubc4/Ubc5 and the ubiquitin ligase Tom1. tom1 cells show reduced ubiquitination of multiple RPs, exceptional accumulation of detergent-insoluble proteins including multiple RPs, and hypersensitivity to imbalances in production of RPs and rRNA,...