A New Schema to Identify S-farnesyl Cysteine Prenylation Sites with Substrate Motifs

Protein prenylation is the addition of hydrophobic molecules to a protein or chemical compound. It is a post-translational modification that plays very important roles for many cellular processes such as DNA replication, signaling, trafficking, and other cellular functions in eukaryotes. Protein S-farnesyl cysteine prenylation is a specific kind of prenylation involved in the transfer of a farnesyl moiety to a cytoplasmic cysteine at or near the C-terminus of the target protein. Recent advancements in proteomic technology have stimulated an increasing interested in the identification of protein S-farnesyl cysteine prenylation sites. However, there is still a lack of methods proposed for the prediction of S-farnesyl cysteine sites. With a rapidly increasing number of experimentally verified S-farnesyl cysteine sites, it is motivated in proposed new method for identifying S-farnesyl cysteine prenylation sites.