Warnhoff Kurt, Kornfeld Kerry
Department of Developmental Biology; Washington University School of Medicine ; St. Louis, MO USA.
Worm. 2015 Mar 11;4(2):e1023498. doi: 10.1080/21624054.2015.1023498. eCollection 2015 Apr-Jun.
Protein N-terminal acetylation is a widespread posttranslational modification in eukaryotes that is catalyzed by N-terminal acetyltransferases (NATs). The biochemical activity of NATs has been characterized extensively, whereas the biological function of NATs is only beginning to be defined. Here we comment on recent progress in understanding the function of NAT activity in C. elegans based on the characterization of natc-1 by Warnhoff et al. (2014) and daf-31 by Chen et al. (2014).(1,2) natc-1 encodes an auxiliary subunit of the NatC complex and modulates stress tolerance, dauer entry, and adult lifespan. daf-31 encodes the catalytic subunit of the NatA complex and affects dauer entry, dauer formation, and adult lifespan. The analysis of these genes and genetic studies of NATs in other organisms suggests protein N-terminal acetylation plays an evolutionarily conserved role in promoting growth and development and inhibiting stress resistance. Furthermore, we propose that NATs may regulate growth and development in response to external cues such as nutrient deprivation and other physiologic stresses.
蛋白质N端乙酰化是真核生物中一种广泛存在的翻译后修饰，由N端乙酰转移酶（NATs）催化。NATs的生化活性已得到广泛表征，而NATs的生物学功能才刚刚开始被阐明。在此，我们基于Warnhoff等人（2014年）对natc-1以及Chen等人（2014年）对daf-31的表征，对秀丽隐杆线虫中NAT活性功能的最新研究进展进行评论。（1,2）natc-1编码NatC复合物的一个辅助亚基，并调节应激耐受性、滞育进入和成虫寿命。daf-31编码NatA复合物的催化亚基，并影响滞育进入、滞育形成和成虫寿命。对这些基因的分析以及在其他生物体中对NATs的遗传学研究表明，蛋白质N端乙酰化在促进生长发育和抑制抗逆性方面发挥着进化上保守的作用。此外，我们提出NATs可能会响应营养剥夺和其他生理应激等外部信号来调节生长发育。
