German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
Biophys J. 2010 Mar 3;98(5):800-4. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2009.11.014.
Acylation is a frequent means to ensure membrane association of a variety of soluble proteins in living cells. However, many transmembrane proteins are palmitoylated, indicating that this posttranslational modification may also serve as a means to regulate protein trafficking. Based on coarse-grained membrane simulations, we find that protein acylation significantly alters the tilting of transmembrane proteins with respect to the bilayer normal. In addition, the proteins' partitioning behavior and cluster formation ability due to hydrophobic mismatching is strongly altered. Based on our results, we propose that acylation is a potent means to regulate the trafficking of transmembrane proteins along the early secretory pathway.
酰化作用是确保活细胞中各种可溶性蛋白与膜结合的常用手段。然而，许多跨膜蛋白都发生了棕榈酰化，这表明这种翻译后修饰也可能作为调节蛋白运输的一种方式。基于粗粒化膜模拟，我们发现蛋白酰化会显著改变跨膜蛋白相对于双层膜法线的倾斜角度。此外，由于疏水性失配，蛋白质的分配行为和聚集体形成能力也会发生强烈改变。基于我们的结果，我们提出酰化作用是调节跨膜蛋白在早期分泌途径中运输的一种有效手段。
