Reversible posttranslational modification

Posttranslational modifications can be broken down into two main classes those that are reversible and those that are irreversible. Included in the large group of reversible posttranslational modifications are phosphorylation, acetylation, and disulfide formation. Irreversible posttranslational modifications include peptide bond cleavage as in intein splicing also irreversible is the introduction of a phosphopantetheinyl group during fatty acid, polyketide, and nonribosomal peptide biosyntheses. The current debate is whether to classify lysine N-methylation as reversible or irreversible. Recently, there have been reports of lysine demethylases. ... 

T. Seres, V. Ravichandran, T. Moriguchi, K. Rokutan, J.A. Thomas, and R.B. Johnston, Protein Sthiolation and dethiolation during the respiratory burst in human monoc54es. A reversible posttranslational modification with potential for buffering the effects of oxidant stress, J ImmunoL 156(1996) 1973-1980. 

Histone methylation is a common posttranslational modification fond in histones. Histone methylations have been identified on lysine and arginine residues. In case of lysines S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) dependent methyl transferases catalyze the transfer of one, two or three methyl groups. Lysine methylation is reversible and lysine specific demethylases have been... 

In the life cycle of HIV, its RNA is translated into a polypeptide chain that is composed of several individual proteins including protease, integrase and reverse transcriptase, but in this form these enzymes are not functional. They must be cleaved by viral proteases from the assembled sequence in order for them to become functional. These posttranslational modifications allow the enzymes to facilitate the production of new viruses. The protease itself is made up of two 99-amino-acid monomers, and an aspartic acid residue in the monomer is required for the cleavage. The protease inhibitors inhibit the enzyme protease and consequently interfere with viral replication and maturation by preventing proteases from cleaving proteins into peptides. In humans, these drugs inhibit cleavage of HIV gag and pol polyproteins, which are part of the essential viral structural components, P7, P9, P17 and P24, and... 

Following translation into the polypeptidyl chain, proteins undergo not only specific chemical modifications but also many nonspecific modifications. Some modifications are the result of continual exposure of the proteins to the potential action of proteolytic enzymes. The level of a specific protein in vivo is the result of a balance achieved between the rate of biosynthesis of that protein and its rate of degradation by proteolytic enzymes. In part, the rate of degradation of a protein is a function of the relative levels of native (N) and reversibly (R) denatured protein (N R) under a given set of conditions. Nutritional state and health of the organism, the extent of posttranslational modification, and environ-... 

Posttranslational modifications are enzyme-catalyzed covalent modifications of a mature protein after it has been synthesized. Examples of posttranslational modifications are phosphorylation, glycosylation, sulfation, methylation and prenylation. Espedally those modifications that are reversible, such as phosphorylation by de-phosphorylation through the action of phosphatases are important in regulation. 

Phosphorylation. Phosphorylation is a posttranslational modification that is reflected in close to 30% of eukaryotic gene products and almost 2% of the human genome-encoded protein kinases. Protein phosphorylation plays an essential role in intercellular communication during development, in physiological responses and homeostasis, and in the functioning of the nervous and immune systems. Reversible phosphorylation regulates many diverse... 

Soft ionization techniques such as electrospray ionization and matrix assisted laser desorption are now routinely used to determine the mass of large hydrophilic polymers like proteins (27). However, as is usual for the ionization process, the presence of sails and detergents, which is common for biological samples, can affect the process significantly. The use of the on-line capillary reversed-phase HPLC in combination of the electrospray mass spectrometer (LC/MS) has made it possible to analyze such samples directly (10,16, 28). When GAP-43 isolated from the membrane fractions of bovine brain was analyzed, a single major peak with a minor peak corresponding to a phosphorylated species was observed (Fig. la). To study the posttranslational modifications in detail, the protein was digested with specific proteases such as lysyl... 

The reversible phosphorylation of proteins is one of the most widespread posttranslational modifications, mediating responses to internal and external signals in a variety of cellular processes [1-3]. In eukaryotes 30-70 % of all proteins are phosphorylated on tyrosine (Tyr), threonine (Thr), and/or serine (Ser) residues [4-6]. Protein phosphorylation is catalyzed by protein kinases, which transfer the y-phosphate of ATP to a hydroxyl side chain, resulting in the formation of a phosphate monoester. Protein phosphatases hydrolyze these phosphate monoesters and make protein phosphorylation a reversible modification [4]. 

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