Science 2009-08-14

Lysine acetylation targets protein complexes and co-regulates major cellular functions.

Chunaram Choudhary, Chanchal Kumar, Florian Gnad, Michael L Nielsen, Michael Rehman, Tobias C Walther, Jesper V Olsen, Matthias Mann

Index: Science 325(5942) , 834-40, (2009)

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Abstract

Lysine acetylation is a reversible posttranslational modification of proteins and plays a key role in regulating gene expression. Technological limitations have so far prevented a global analysis of lysine acetylation's cellular roles. We used high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify 3600 lysine acetylation sites on 1750 proteins and quantified acetylation changes in response to the deacetylase inhibitors suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid and MS-275. Lysine acetylation preferentially targets large macromolecular complexes involved in diverse cellular processes, such as chromatin remodeling, cell cycle, splicing, nuclear transport, and actin nucleation. Acetylation impaired phosphorylation-dependent interactions of 14-3-3 and regulated the yeast cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc28. Our data demonstrate that the regulatory scope of lysine acetylation is broad and comparable with that of other major posttranslational modifications.