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Elsevier, Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, 8(13), p. 2072-2088, 2014

DOI: 10.1074/mcp.o113.032748

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Proteomic Analysis of Arginine Methylation Sites in Human Cells Reveals Dynamic Regulation During Transcriptional Arrest

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The covalent attachment of methyl groups to the side-chain of arginine residues is known to play essential roles in regulation of transcription, protein function and RNA metabolism. The specific N-methylation of arginine residues is catalyzed by a small family of gene products known as protein arginine methyltransferases; however, very little is known about which arginine residues become methylated on target substrates. Here we describe a proteomics methodology that combines single-step immunoenrichment of methylated peptides with high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify endogenous arginine mono-methylation (MMA) sites. We thereby identify 1,027 site-specific MMA sites on 494 human proteins, discovering numerous novel mono-methylation targets and confirming the majority of currently known MMA substrates. Nuclear RNA-binding proteins involved in RNA processing, RNA localization, transcription, and chromatin remodeling are predominantly found modified with MMA. Despite this, MMA sites prominently are located outside RNA-binding domains as compared to the proteome-wide distribution of arginine residues. Quantification of arginine methylation in cells treated with Actinomycin D uncovers strong site-specific regulation of MMA sites during transcriptional arrest. Interestingly, several MMA sites are down-regulated after a few hours of transcriptional arrest. In contrast, the corresponding di-methylation or protein expression level is not altered in expression, confirming that MMA sites contain regulated functions on their own. Collectively, we present a site-specific MMA dataset in human cells and demonstrate for the first time that MMA is a dynamic post-translational modification regulated during transcriptional arrest by a hitherto uncharacterized arginine demethylase.