Biology Commons^™

The Use Of Genomic “Knock-In” Strategy To Examine The Role Of The Protein Acyl Transferase (Dhhc) Family Of Enzymes Using Dictyostelium Discoideum, Joshua Little

Honors College

Palmitoylation is a reversible, post translational, lipid modification performed by proteinacyltransferases (PAT). PATs are membrane-bound enzymes which contain a conserved region that is rich in cysteine residues and contains a DHHC (Asp-His-His-Cys) conserved domain. This region is involved in the transfer of a 16-carbon palmitate from palmitoyl-CoA to a target protein. Palmitoylation plays many important functions such as targeting the protein to a lipid raft, shuttling the target protein or anchoring it to the cell membranes as well as aiding in the three dimensional folding of the protein. This process plays an important role in signal transduction, anchoring and cellular …