This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 564, an undergraduate capstone course at UW-Madison.
What are post-translational modifications?
Post-translational modifications are changes that proteins go through after translation. Post-translational modifications before increase proteome diversity and play an important role in cell signaling, protein activation, and protein degradation. Understanding post-translational modifications is critical for understanding protein function in the cell. Post-transitional modifications include phosphorylation, glycosylation, ubiquitination, nitrosylation, methylation, acetylation, lipidation, and proteolysis (1).
Types of post-translational modifications
PINK1 Phosphorylation
Discussion
NetPhos is a useful resource for predicting phosphorylation sites in an amino acid sequence (2). The NetPhos server predicts serine, threonine or tyrosine phosphorylation sites in eukaryotic proteins using ensembles of neural networks. The figures above show a side-by-side comparison of predicted phosphorylation sites in human PINK1 and zebrafish PINK1. Identifying potential phosphorylation sites allows examination of protein interactions, molecular function, and the way function is impacted when mutated. It would be interesting to mutate potential phosphorylation sites and observe the interactions and functions of mutant PINK1.