Version 1
: Received: 21 February 2023 / Approved: 23 February 2023 / Online: 23 February 2023 (01:25:52 CET)
How to cite:
Simoens, L.; Fijalkowski, I.; Van Damme, P. Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life. Preprints2023, 2023020391. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0391.v1.
Simoens, L.; Fijalkowski, I.; Van Damme, P. Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life. Preprints 2023, 2023020391. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0391.v1.
Cite as:
Simoens, L.; Fijalkowski, I.; Van Damme, P. Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life. Preprints2023, 2023020391. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0391.v1.
Simoens, L.; Fijalkowski, I.; Van Damme, P. Exposing the Small Protein Load of Bacterial Life. Preprints 2023, 2023020391. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0391.v1.
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
LIFE SCIENCES, Microbiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
