Ubiquitin (Ub) monomers can form different types of chains, depending on which of its seven lysine residues are involved in the linkages. Now linkage-specific deubiquitinases are used to explore the architecture of heterotypic Ub chains, and Lys6 chains are shown to feature an asymmetric interface and a different conformation for Ub.
- Manuela K Hospenthal
- Stefan M V Freund
- David Komander
