The Ubiquitin System and Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus.

Ubiquitination is a post-translational modification in which one or more ubiquitin molecules are covalently linked to lysine residues of target proteins. The ubiquitin system plays a key role in the regulation of protein degradation, which contributes to cell signaling, vesicular trafficking, apoptosis, and immune regulation. Bacterial and viral pathogens exploit the cellular ubiquitin system by encoding their own proteins to serve their survival and replication in infected cells.