Abstract:
Post-translational modification (PTM) is covalent modification of proteins by
addition of functional groups or even a protein, proteolytic cleavage of regulatory
subunits or degradation of entire protein. Apart from increasing the functional
diversity, PTM plays role in the stability of proteins, localisation of proteins and
it also affect the protein-protein interactions.
The Human genome has about 20,000 to 25,000 protein encoding genes. The
proteome of humans has more than 1 million proteins (International Human
Genome Sequencing Consortium, 2004). According to the given fact, one gene
must be having information for the synthesis of more than one protein. This
diversification is taken care by various molecular processes of cells. These
processes vary from mRNA editing, alternative splicing, use of alternate
promoters, post-translational modification. At each process mentioned in the
central dogma, there are mechanism to increase the variation in the final product
and ultimately leading to a proteome with diverse functional role (Boyer, 2006).
