Protein Acetylation/Deacetylation: A Potential Strategy for Fungal Infection Control

Protein acetylation is a universal post-translational modification that fine-tunes the major cellular processes of many life forms. Although the mechanisms regulating protein acetylation have not been fully elucidated, this modification is finely tuned by both enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Junzhu Chen, Qiong Liu, Lingbing Zeng, Xiaotian Huang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Microbiology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2020.574736/full
Description
Summary:Protein acetylation is a universal post-translational modification that fine-tunes the major cellular processes of many life forms. Although the mechanisms regulating protein acetylation have not been fully elucidated, this modification is finely tuned by both enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms. Protein deacetylation is the reverse process of acetylation and is mediated by deacetylases. Together, protein acetylation and deacetylation constitute a reversible regulatory protein acetylation network. The recent application of mass spectrometry-based proteomics has led to accumulating evidence indicating that reversible protein acetylation may be related to fungal virulence because a substantial amount of virulence factors are acetylated. Additionally, the relationship between protein acetylation/deacetylation and fungal drug resistance has also been proven and the potential of deacetylase inhibitors as an anti-infective treatment has attracted attention. This review aimed to summarize the research progress in understanding fungal protein acetylation/deacetylation and discuss the mechanism of its mediation in fungal virulence, providing novel targets for the treatment of fungal infection.
ISSN:1664-302X