Succinylation modification provides new insights for the treatment of immunocompromised individuals with drug-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus infection

Dysregulation of protein succinylation and disease development

As a novel post-translational modification of proteins, succinylation is widely present in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. By regulating protein translocation and activity, particularly involved in regulation of gene expression, succinylation actively participates in diverse biological processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation and metabolism. Dysregulation of succinylation is closely related to many diseases. Consequently, it has increasingly attracted attention from basic and clinical researchers. For a thorough understanding of succinylation dysregulation and its implications for disease development, such as inflammation, tumors, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the research progress on abnormal succinylation. This understanding of association of dysregulation of succinylation with pathological processes will provide valuable directions for disease prevention/treatment strategies as well as drug development.

Proteome-Wide Analysis of Lysine 2-Hydroxyisobutyrylation in Aspergillus fumigatus

Aspergillus fumigatus is the significant causative agent in cases of invasive aspergillosis, leading to a high mortality rate in immunocompromised patients. A comprehensive understanding of its growth patterns and metabolic processes within the host is a critical prerequisite for the development of effective antifungal strategies. Lysine 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation (Khib) is a highly conserved protein posttranslational modifications (PTM) found in various organisms. In this study, we investigate the biological impact of Khib in A. fumigatus. Using a combination of antibody enrichment with the conventional LC-MS/MS method, the pattern of Khib-modification in proteins and their respective sites were analyzed in a wild type strain of A. fumigatus. Our findings revealed 3494 Khib-modified proteins with a total of 18,091 modified sites in this strain. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these Khib-modified proteins participate in a diverse range of cellular functions, spanning various subcellular locations such as ribosome biosynthesis, protein synthesis and nucleocytoplasmic transport. Notably, when compared with other reported eukaryotes, A. fumigatus exhibited consistently higher numbers of Khib-modified proteins, suggesting the potential significance of this modification in this organism. An interesting observation is the prevalence of Khib modifications in most enzymes involved in the ergosterol synthesis pathway. The insights gathered from this study provide new avenue for studying PTM-associated mechanisms in fungal growth and offer potential implication for antifungal drug development.