Genome-scale analysis of regulatory protein acetylation enzymes from photosynthetic eukaryotes

Advances in proteome-wide analysis of plant lysine acetylation

Lysine acetylation (LysAc) is a conserved and important post-translational modification (PTM) that plays a key role in plant physiological and metabolic processes. Based on advances in Lys-acetylated protein immunoenrichment and mass-spectrometric technology, LysAc proteomics studies have been performed in many species. Such studies have made substantial contributions to our understanding of plant LysAc, revealing that Lys-acetylated histones and nonhistones are involved in a broad spectrum of plant cellular processes. Here, we present an extensive overview of recent research on plant Lys-acetylproteomes. We provide in-depth insights into the characteristics of plant LysAc modifications and the mechanisms by which LysAc participates in cellular processes and regulates metabolism and physiology during plant growth and development. First, we summarize the characteristics of LysAc, including the properties of Lys-acetylated sites, the motifs that flank Lys-acetylated lysines, and the dynamic alterations in LysAc among different tissues and developmental stages. We also outline a map of Lys-acetylated proteins in the Calvin-Benson cycle and central carbon metabolism-related pathways. We then introduce some examples of the regulation of plant growth, development, and biotic and abiotic stress responses by LysAc. We discuss the interaction between LysAc and N^α-terminal acetylation and the crosstalk between LysAc and other PTMs, including phosphorylation and succinylation. Finally, we propose recommendations for future studies in the field. We conclude that LysAc of proteins plays an important role in the regulation of the plant life cycle.

DomainViz: intuitive visualization of consensus domain distributions across groups of proteins

The prediction of functional domains is typically among the first steps towards understanding the function of new proteins and protein families. There are numerous databases of annotated protein domains that permit researchers to identify domains on individual proteins of interest. However, it is necessary to perform high-throughput domain searches to gain evolutionary insight into the functions of proteins and protein families. Unfortunately, at present, it is difficult to search for, and visualize domain conservation across multiple proteins and/or multiple groups of proteins in an intuitive manner. Here we present DomainViz, a new web-server that streamlines the identification and visualization of domains across multiple protein sequences. Currently, DomainViz uses the well-established PFAM and Prosite databases for domain searching and assembles intuitive, publication-ready 'monument valley' plots (mv-plots) that display the extent of domain conservation along two dimensions: positionality and frequency of occurrence in the input protein sequences. In addition, DomainViz produces a conventional domain-ordering figure. DomainViz can be used to explore the conservation of domains within a single protein family, across multiple families, and across families from different species to support studies into protein function and evolution. The web-server is publicly available at: https://uhrigprotools.biology.ualberta.ca/domainviz.

Comparative acetylome analysis of wild-type and fuzzless-lintless mutant ovules of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum Cv. Xu142) unveils differential protein acetylation may regulate fiber development

Protein acetylation (KAC) is a significant post-translational modification, which plays an essential role in the regulation of growth and development. Unfortunately, related studies are inadequately available in angiosperms, and to date, there is no report providing insight on the role of protein acetylation in cotton fiber development. Therefore, we first compared the lysine-acetylation proteome (acetylome) of upland cotton ovules in the early fiber development stages by using wild-type as well as its fuzzless-lintless mutant to identify the role of KAC in the fiber development. A total of 1696 proteins with 2754 acetylation sites identified with the different levels of acetylation belonging to separate subcellular compartments suggesting a large number of proteins differentially acetylated in two cotton cultivars. About 80% of the sites were predicted to localize in the cytoplasm, chloroplast, and mitochondria. Seventeen significantly enriched acetylation motifs were identified. Serine and threonine and cysteine located downstream and upstream to KAC sites. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis indicated oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid, ribosome and protein, and folate biosynthesis pathways enriched significantly. To our knowledge, this is the first report of comparative acetylome analysis to compare the wild-type as well as its fuzzless-lintless mutant acetylome data to identify the differentially acetylated proteins, which may play a significant role in cotton fiber development.

Lysine acetylation as drug target in fungi: an underexplored potential in Aspergillus spp

In recent years, the intensification of the use of immunosuppressive therapies has increased the incidence of invasive infections caused by opportunistic fungi. Considering that, the spread of azole resistance and amphotericin B (AmB) inefficiency against some clinical and environmental isolates has been described. Thus, to avoid a global problem when controlling fungal infections and critical failures in medicine, and food security, new approaches for drug target identification and for the development of new treatments that are more effective against pathogenic fungi are desired. Recent studies indicate that protein acetylation is present in hundreds of proteins of different cellular compartments and is involved in several biological processes, i.e., metabolism, translation, gene expression regulation, and oxidative stress response, from prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including fungi, demonstrating that lysine acetylation plays an important role in essential mechanisms. Lysine acetyltransferases (KATs) and lysine deacetylases (KDACs), the two enzyme families responsible for regulating protein acetylation levels, have been explored as drug targets for the treatment of several human diseases and infections. Aspergilli have on average 8 KAT genes and 11 KDAC genes in their genomes. This review aims to summarize the available knowledge about Aspergillus spp. azole resistance mechanisms and the role of lysine acetylation in the control of biological processes in fungi. We also want to discuss the lysine acetylation as a potential target for fungal infection treatment and drug target discovery.

A journey through a plant cytoskeleton: Hot spots in signaling and functioning

This survey paper contains a brief analysis of publications included in the special issue of the scientific journal Cell Biology International titled "Plant Cytoskeleton Structure, Dynamics and Functions". The manuscripts in this special issue reflect some new aspects of plant cytoskeleton organization, signaling and functioning, and results from different Ukrainian research groups, and focuses on bringing together scientists working across different instrumental scales.

Diurnal changes in concerted plant protein phosphorylation and acetylation in Arabidopsis organs and seedlings

Protein phosphorylation and acetylation are the two most abundant post-translational modifications (PTMs) that regulate protein functions in eukaryotes. In plants, these PTMs have been investigated individually; however, their co-occurrence and dynamics on proteins is currently unknown. Using Arabidopsis thaliana, we quantified changes in protein phosphorylation, acetylation and protein abundance in leaf rosettes, roots, flowers, siliques and seedlings at the end of day (ED) and at the end of night (EN). This identified 2549 phosphorylated and 909 acetylated proteins, of which 1724 phosphorylated and 536 acetylated proteins were also quantified for changes in PTM abundance between ED and EN. Using a sequential dual-PTM workflow, we identified significant PTM changes and intersections in these organs and plant developmental stages. In particular, cellular process-, pathway- and protein-level analyses reveal that the phosphoproteome and acetylome predominantly intersect at the pathway- and cellular process-level at ED versus EN. We found 134 proteins involved in core plant cell processes, such as light harvesting and photosynthesis, translation, metabolism and cellular transport, that were both phosphorylated and acetylated. Our results establish connections between PTM motifs, PTM catalyzing enzymes and putative substrate networks. We also identified PTM motifs for further characterization of the regulatory mechanisms that control cellular processes during the diurnal cycle in different Arabidopsis organs and seedlings. The sequential dual-PTM analysis expands our understanding of diurnal plant cell regulation by PTMs and provides a useful resource for future analyses, while emphasizing the importance of analyzing multiple PTMs simultaneously to elucidate when, where and how they are involved in plant cell regulation.