Abstract
Protein S‐acylation, predominately in the form of palmitoylation, is a reversible lipid post‐translational modification on cysteines that plays important roles in protein localization, trafficking, activity, and complex assembly. The functions and regulatory mechanisms of S‐acylation have been extensively studied in mammals owing to remarkable development of high‐resolution proteomics and the discovery of the S‐acylation‐related enzymes. However, the advancement of S‐acylation studies in plants lags behind that in mammals, mainly due to the lack of knowledge about proteins responsible for this process, such as protein acyltransferases and their substrates. In this article, a set of systematic protocols to study global S‐acylation inArabidopsisseedlings is described. The procedures are presented in detail, including preparation ofArabidopsisseedlings, enrichment of plasma membrane (PM) proteins, ensuing enrichment of S‐acylated proteins/peptides based on the acyl‐biotin exchange method, and large‐scale identification of S‐acylated proteins/peptides via mass spectrometry. This approach enables researchers to study S‐acylation of PM proteins in plants in a systematic and straightforward way. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Basic Protocol 1: Preparation ofArabidopsisseedling materials
Basic Protocol 2: Isolation and enrichment of plasma membrane proteins
Support Protocol 1: Determination of protein concentration using BCA assay
Basic Protocol 3: Enrichment of S‐acylated proteins by acyl‐biotin exchange method
Support Protocol 2: Protein precipitation by methanol/chloroform method
Basic Protocol 4: Trypsin digestion and proteomic analysis
Alternate Protocol: Pre‐resin digestion and peptide‐level enrichment