Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life

Version 1 : Received: 21 February 2023 / Approved: 23 February 2023 / Online: 23 February 2023 (01:25:52 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Simoens, L.; Fijalkowski, I.; Van Damme, P. Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 2023, doi:10.1093/femsre/fuad063. Simoens, L.; Fijalkowski, I.; Van Damme, P. Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 2023, doi:10.1093/femsre/fuad063.

Abstract

The ever-growing repertoire of genomic techniques continues to expand our understanding of true diversity and richness of prokaryotic genomes. Riboproteogenomics laid the foundation for dynamic studies of previously overlooked genomic elements. Most strikingly, bacterial genomes were revealed to harbour robust repertoires of small open reading frames (sORFs) encoding a diverse and broadly expressed range of small proteins, or sORF-encoded polypeptides (SEPs). In recent years, continuous efforts led to great improvements in annotation and characterization of such proteins, yet many challenges remain to fully understand the pervasive nature of small proteins and their impact on bacterial biology. In this work we review recent developments in the dynamic field of bacterial genome reannotation, catalogue important biological roles carried out by small proteins and identify challenges obstructing the way to full understanding of these elusive proteins.

Keywords

small ORF encoded polypeptides (SEPs); riboproteogenomics; bacterial pathogens; protein tagging; proteomics

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0


×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.