A ubiquitin hydrolase that removes ubiquitin from a multi-ubiquitinated protein has been purified 600-fold from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Four different ubiquitin-protein conjugates were assayed as substrates during the purification procedure. Enzymic activities that removed ubiquitin from ubiquitinated histone H2A, a ubiquitin-ubiquitin dimer and a ubiquitin-ribosomal fusion protein were separated during the purification from an activity that removed a single ubiquitin molecule linked by an isopeptide bond to a ubiquitinated protein. The size of the native enzyme was 160 kDa, based on its sedimentation in a sucrose gradient, and the subunit molecular mass was estimated to be 160 kDa, based on a profile of proteins eluted in different fractions by thiol-affinity chromatography. The partially purified hydrolase was not inhibited by a variety of protease inhibitors, except for thiol-blocking reagents. The natural substrate for this enzyme may be the polyubiquitin chain containing ubiquitin molecules bound to each other in isopeptide bonds, with one of them linked to a lysine residue of a protein targeted for intracellular proteolysis.
