Regulation by Covalent Modification

Bruce L Martin, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Published online: September 2007

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000866.pub2

Covalent modifications are enzyme catalysed alterations of synthesized proteins and include the addition or removal of chemical groups. Modifications can target a single type of amino acid or multiple amino acids and will change the chemical properties of the site. Consequences on the structure and functions of the protein modified are manifested providing a sensitive method for cellular regulation.

Keywords: enzyme and metabolic regulation; autoregulation; cascade; cotranslation modification; post-translational modification

Figure 1. Generalized scheme for covalent modification reactions. Shown is an example of a transfer of a generic group (X) to a specific acceptor residue (A) on the target protein. The site (A) becomes modified. In other reactions, cleavage for example, a group may be removed from the target site (A).
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    book Wold F and Moldave K (eds) (1984) Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 106–107. New York: Academic Press.

Related Sub-Topics:

Protein Structure | Posttranslational Modification | Proteins: Structure, Function, Metabolism | Enzymes: Structure and Action Mechanism
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Article Title: Regulation by Covalent Modification
 
How to Cite close
Martin, Bruce L(Sep 2007) Regulation by Covalent Modification. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000866.pub2]