What are post-translational modifications?
Post-translational modifications are a diverse set of changes that can be either transient or permanent. They can consist of anything from changes to amino acids to the addition of a lipid, carbohydrate, or protein. These modifications have a large variety of effects including but not limited to changing protein stability, folding, targeting and recognition (Nalivaeva 2001). These modifications play an important role in not only normal but also mutant proteins.
How to determine phosphorylation sites
Databases such as NetPhos can help us to determine where potential phosphorylation sites occur on a given protein. The protein would likely require a serine, threonine, or tyrosine amino acid residue. Program such as NetPhos can identify where these amino acid residues are located in order to identify potential site of phosphorylation. The potential phosphorylation sites of SHANK3 are shown below.
Discussion
Knowing the potential phosphorylation sites can allow us to examine important protein roles such as their interactions with other proteins, their molecular functions in cells, and the way that their functions are impacted when mutated. It has been previously shown that Cdk5-mediated phosphorylation of Shank3 is vital in dendritic spine morphogenesis and synaptic plasticity (Su 1970). This may be an area for further research advancements.
References:
Su, Susan C. & Chih-Chieh, S. (1970, January 01). Regulation of synaptic function and plasticity by cyclin-dependent kinase 5. Retrieved April 07, 2018
Nalivaeva NN and Turner AJ. (2001). Proteomics, 1, 735–747.
Header:
https://sciencenode.org/feature/new-strategy-identifying-post-translational-modifications-proteins.php
Su, Susan C. & Chih-Chieh, S. (1970, January 01). Regulation of synaptic function and plasticity by cyclin-dependent kinase 5. Retrieved April 07, 2018
Nalivaeva NN and Turner AJ. (2001). Proteomics, 1, 735–747.
Header:
https://sciencenode.org/feature/new-strategy-identifying-post-translational-modifications-proteins.php
This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 564, an undergraduate capstone course at UW-Madison.