PTMScan^® Acetyl-Lysine Motif [Ac-K] Kit

PTMScan^® Technology employs a proprietary methodology from Cell Signaling Technology (CST) for peptide enrichment by immunoprecipitation using a specific bead-conjugated antibody in conjunction with liquid chromatography (LC) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for quantitative profiling of post-translational modification (PTM) sites in cellular proteins. These include phosphorylation (PhosphoScan^®), ubiquitination (UbiScan^®), acetylation (AcetylScan^®), and methylation (MethylScan^®), among others. PTMScan^® Technology enables researchers to isolate, identify, and quantitate large numbers of post-translationally modified cellular peptides with a high degree of specificity and sensitivity, providing a global overview of PTMs in cell and tissue samples without preconceived biases about where these modified sites occur (1). For more information on PTMScan^® Proteomics Services, please visit www.cellsignal.com/common/content/content.jsp?id=ptmscan-services.

Acetylation of lysine, like phosphorylation of serine, threonine or tyrosine, is an important reversible modification controlling protein activity. The conserved amino-terminal domains of the four core histones (H2A, H2B, H3, and H4) contain lysines that are acetylated by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and deacetylated by histone deacetylases (HDACs) (1). Signaling resulting in acetylation/deacetylation of histones, transcription factors, and other proteins affects a diverse array of cellular processes including chromatin structure and gene activity, cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis (2-6). Recent proteomic surveys suggest that acetylation of lysine residues may be a widespread and important form of post-translational protein modification that affects thousands of proteins involved in control of cell cycle and metabolism, longevity, actin polymerization, and nuclear transport (7,8). The regulation of protein acetylation status is impaired in cancer and polyglutamine diseases (9), and HDACs have become promising targets for anti-cancer drugs currently in development (10).