Fig. 1. Examples of two opposite archetypal regulatory modules: the PTM-activated degron and PTM-inactivated degron.
a PTM-activated degron: Writer enzymes generate PTMs at specific residues within target proteins that are recognized by an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex for proteasome degradation. PTM-activated degron is a natively inactive degron structure, modified, or otherwise activated by the addition of one or more PTMs, ultimately leading to the proteolytic degradation of a protein. b PTM-inactivated degron: PTMs added to specific sites on protein substrates to inhibit their interaction with the protein degradation machinery. PTM-inactivated degron is a destabilization motif that is inactivated by the addition of one or more PTMs.