more ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domains. The UBL domains are recognized by the 19S proteasome caps and the UBA domains bind ubiquitin via three-helix bundles. These receptor proteins may escort polyubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome, though the specifics of this interaction and its regulation are unclear. The ubiquitin protein itself is 76 amino acids long and was named due to its ubiquitous nature, as it has a highly conserved sequence and is found in all known eukaryotic organisms. The genes encoding ubiquitin in eukaryotes are arranged in tandem repeats, possibly due to the heavy transcription demands on these genes to produce enough ubiquitin for the cell. It has been proposed that ubiquitin is the slowest-evolving protein identified to date. Ubiquitin contains seven lysine residues to which another ubiquitin can be ligated, resulting in different types of polyubiquitin chains. Chains in which each additional ubiquitin is linked to lysine 48 of the previous ubiquitin have a role in proteasome targeting, while other types of chains may be involved in other processes. Deubiquitylation Ubiquitin chains conjugated to a protein targeted for proteasomal degradation are normally removed by any one of the three proteasome-associated deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs), which are Rpn11, Ubp6/USP14 and UCH37. This process recycles ubiquitin and is essential to maintain the ubiquitin reservoir in cells. Rpn11 is an intrinsic, stoichiometric subunit of the 19S regulatory particle and is essential for the function of 26S proteasome. The DUB activity of Rpn11 is enhanced in the proteasome as compared to its monomeric form. How Rpn11 removes a ubiquitin chain en bloc from a protein substrate was captured by an atomic structure of the substrate-engaged human proteasome in a conformation named EB. Interestingly, this structure also shows how the DUB activity is coupled to the substrate recognition by the proteasomal AAA-ATPase. In contrast to Rpn11, USP14 and UCH37 are the DUBs that do not always associated with the proteasome. In cells, about 10-40% of the proteasomes were found to have USP14 associated. Both Ubp6/USP14 and UCH37 are largely activated by the proteasome and exhibit a very low DUB activity alone. Once activated, USP14 was found to suppress proteasome function by its DUB activity and by inducing parallel pathways of proteasome conformational transitions, one of which turned out to directly prohibit substrate insertion into the AAA-ATPase, as intuitively observed by time-resolved cryogenic electron microscopy. It appears that USP14 regulates proteasome function at multiple checkpoints by both catalytically