Submitted on February 14, 2008
Accepted on February 22, 2008
Identification of CKAP4/p63 as a major substrate of the palmitoyl acyl transferase DHHC2, a putative tumor suppressor, using a novel proteomic method
Jun Zhang, Sonia L. Planey, Carolina Ceballos, Stanley M. Stevens . Jr, Susan K. Keay, and David A. Zacharias
The Whitney Laboratory University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL 32080
Corresponding Author: daz{at}whitney.ufl.edu
Protein palmitoylation is the post-translational addition of the 16-carbon fatty acid, palmitate, to specific cysteine residues by a labile thioester linkage. Palmitoylation is mediated by a family of at least 23 palmitoyl acyl transferases (PATs) characterized by an AspHisHisCys (DHHC) motif. Many palmitoylated proteins have been identified, but PAT-substrate relationships are mostly unknown. Here we present a method called Palmitoyl-cysteine Isolation Capture and Analysis or PICA to identify PAT-substrate relationships in a living vertebrate system and demonstrate its effectiveness by identifying CKAP4/p63 as a physiologically important substrate of DHHC2, a putative tumor suppressor.