Target Discovery - Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs)

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Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs)

The old myth of one gene making one protein is dead. The figure below illustrates how the 1 million estimated human proteins¹ are generated by the body from a mere 20-25,000 genes.² Alternative splicing and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) expands the number of messenger RNAs to about 88,000³ during transcription of these genes. These mRNA variants account for 8-10% of the estimated protein isoforms in the body. The vast majority (90%) of protein isoforms are generated as post-translational modifications (PTMs) by metabolic processes in the cells. Modifications, such as glycosylation or phosphorylation, are typically performed to achieve specific functional objectives or may be the result of metabolic changes caused by disease states.

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¹Kenyon, G.L. et al. (2002) Defining the mandate of proteomics in the post-genomics era. Mol. Cell. Proteomics 1, 763–780.
²Lincoln D. Stein. Human genome: End of the beginning. Nature 431, 915 - 916 (21 October 2004).
³http://genome.ewha.ac.kr/ECgene/statistics.htm.