The N-terminal unstructured domain of yeast ODC functions as a transplantable and replaceable ubiquitin-independent degron.

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), a homodimeric enzyme with a rate-limiting function in polyamine biosynthesis, is subject to a feedback control involving its selective proteolysis. Targeting of ODC monomers to the proteasome is mediated by ODC antizyme (OAZ), the expression of which is induced by high levels of polyamines. Here, we report our analysis of the N-terminal degron in Saccharomyces cerevisiae ODC and the mechanism of its antizyme-dependent targeting. This ∼45-residue domain of ODC [termed ODC degradation signal (ODS)] is essential for degradation of ODC. Extensive mutagenesis indicated that it is not a specific sequence within ODS that is important but, rather, its unstructured nature. Consistent with this conclusion, ODS could be functionally replaced by an unrelated unstructured domain. We show that increasing the distance of ODS to the rest of the ODC protein reduced the dependence on Oaz1 for targeting, indicating that exposure of ODS is critical for its function. Disruption of ODC dimers by introducing interface mutations, in contrast, was insufficient for targeting. Binding of Oaz1 to ODC monomers is thus required to activate ODS. Fusion of ODS to the N terminus of Ura3 was sufficient to convert it into a ubiquitin-independent substrate of the proteasome. By contrast, ODS failed to destabilize maltose-binding protein or dihydrofolate reductase, indicating that this degron only operates in an appropriate structural context that enables rapid unfolding.

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