Post-translational modifications common

After their synthesis (translation), most proteins go through a maturation process, called post-translational modification that affects their activity. One common post-translational modification of proteins is phosphorylation. Two functional classes of enzymes mediate this reversible process protein kinases add phosphate groups to hydroxyl groups of serine, threonine and tyrosine in their substrate, while protein phosphatases remove phosphate groups. The phosphate-linking... 

In addition to the 20 common amino acids, some modified amino acids are also found in several proteins. These amino acids are normally altered via a process of post-translational modification (PTM) reactions (i.e. modified after protein synthesis is complete). Almost 200 such modified amino acids have been characterized to date. The more common such modifications are discussed separately in Section 2.5. 

Rpn S Other common names Subcomplex Approximate MW (Daltons) Reported Post-translation modifications structural Features Function... 

Proteins can undergo different rounds of palmitoylation and depalmitoylation, either constitutively or as a response to signals." " Here the Ras proteins are the most commonly discussed examples. As described above, all Ras proteins are expressed with the CAAX-box and are subject to post-translational modifications. First, they get farnesylated and after proteolysis and methylation of the C-terminus, H-/N-Ras as well as K-Ras 4A get further palmitoylated at additional cysteines present in their C-terminus. Palmitoylation occurs in the Golgi apparatus and via vesicular transport the farnesylated and palmitoylated proteins are directed to the plasma membrane (PM). The palmitoyl thioester is hydrolyzed at multiple cellular sites and the protein is transported back to the Golgi via a nonvesicular pathway (Scheme 3)." ... 

Fig. 1. Histone modifications on the nucleosome core particle. The nucleosome core particle showing 6 of the 8 core histone N-terminal tail domains and 2 C-terminal tails. Sites of post-translational modification are indicated by coloured symbols that are defined in the key (lower left) acK = acetyl lysine, meR = methyl arginine, mcK = methyl lysine, PS = phosphoryl serine, and uK = ubiquitinated lysine. Residue numbers are shown for each modification. Note that H3 lysine 9 can be either acetylated or methylated. The C-terminal tail domains of one H2A molecule and one H2B molecule are shown (dashed lines) with sites of ubiquitination at H2A lysine 119 (most common in mammals) and H2B lysine 123 (most common in yeast). Modifications are shown on only one of the two copies of histones H3 and H4 and only one tail is shown for H2A and H2B. Sites marked by green arrows are susceptible to cutting by trypsin in intact nucleosomes. Note that the cartoon is a compendium of data from various organisms, some of which may lack particular modifications e.g., there is no H3meK9 in S. cerevisiae. (From Ref [7].)...

It is obvious that it is prudent to check the correctness of the amino acid sequence derived from the base sequence of the gene not only at the NHg and COOH termini, which is the common practice, but throughout the entire protein. This would help to uncover any significant errors as well as address the possibility of post-translational modifications. 

Krishna, R., and Wold, F. (1997). Identification of common post-translational modifications. In Protein Structure A Practical Approach (T. Creighton, ed.), 2nd ed., pp. 91-116. Oxford University Press New York. 

When working with purified enzymes, it can be useful to perform a close examination of their phosphorylation states and molecular masses. Mass spectrometry is often useful for this purpose. Post-translational modifications or sequence truncations can potentially alter the compound binding sites available and can also change the structure of potential inhibitory sites. For example, with protein kinases, phosphorylations distal from the ATP binding site can inactivate the kinase whereas phosphorylations near the ATP binding site can activate the catalytic activity. Often, practice does not permit control of such situations because the purified systems are often mixtures and cannot be controlled in the commonly used recombinant expression technologies. 

Proteins and peptides are linear polymers made up of combinations of the 20 most common amino acids linked with each other by peptide bonds. Moreover, the protein produced by the ribosome may undergo covalent modifications, called post-translational modifications, after its incorporation of amino acids. Over 200 such modifications have been detected already [13,14], the most important being glycosylation, the formation of disulfide bridges, phosphorylation, sulfation, hydroxylation, carboxylation and acetylation of the N-terminal acid [15]. The most frequent are listed in Table 8.1 and a more comprehensive database of mass changes due to post-translational modifications of peptides and proteins is available on the Internet [16]. 

Table 2.4. Common post-translational modifications in mammalian proteins...

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