A global analysis of low-complexity regions in the Trypanosoma brucei proteome reveals enrichment in the C-terminus of nucleic acid binding proteins providing potential targets of phosphorylation

Wellcome Open Research

article

Mathieu Cayla¹  Keith R. Matthews¹  Alasdair C. Ivens¹ 

[1] Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, Institute for Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh

关键词: Low-complexity regions (LCRs);    proteome;    phosphorylation;    liquid-liquid phase separation;    nucleic acid binding proteins;    granules;   

DOI  :  10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16286.2

学科分类：内科医学

来源: Wellcome

【 摘 要 】

Background: Low-complexity regions (LCRs) on proteins have attracted increasing attention recently due to their role in the assembly of membraneless organelles or granules by liquid-liquid phase separation. Several examples of such granules have been shown to sequester RNA and proteins in an inactive state, providing an important mechanism for dynamic post-transcriptional gene regulation. In trypanosome parasites, post-transcriptional control overwhelmingly dominates gene regulation due to the organisation of their genome into polycistronic transcription units. The purpose of the current study was to generate a substantially more comprehensive genome-wide survey of LCRs on trypanosome proteins than currently available. Methods: Using the Shannon’s entropy method, provided in the R package ‘entropy’, we identified LCRs in the proteome ofTrypanosoma brucei. Our analysis predicts LCRs and their positional enrichment in distinct protein cohorts and superimposes on this a range of post-translational modifications derived from available experimental datasets.Results: We have identified 8162 LCRs present on 4914 proteins, representing 42% of the proteome, placingTrypanosoma brucei among the eukaryotes with the highest percentage of LCRs. Our results highlight the enrichment of LCRs in the C-terminal region of predicted nucleic acid binding proteins, these acting as favoured sites for potential phosphorylation. Phosphorylation represents 51% of the post-translational modifications present on LCRs compared to 16% on the rest of the proteome.Conclusions: The post-translational modifications of LCRs, and in particular phosphorylation events, could contribute to post-transcriptional gene expression control and the dynamics of protein targeting to membraneless organelles in kinetoplastid parasites.

【 授权许可】

CC BY