Evolution and diversity of HECT ubiquitin ligases in eukaryotes

The post-translational modification of proteins is an important cellular regulatory mechanism in all eukaryotic lineages. The ubiquitination pathway is an important mechanism for such purpose, and HECT ligases one of the most important proteins of this pathway. This study on the evolution of HECT enzymes reveal the ancient origin of the main families, and shows that the HECT regulatory toolkit was already expanded and diversified prior to the origin of multicellular animals.