About this Research Topic
Phosphorylation has served as the milestone among PTMs, being one of the first PTMs to be discovered, phosphorylation set the stage to the study of other PTMs and in terms of its detection western blot remained a sole technique. Methods making use of western blot were similarly devised to characterize the Cys-based PTMs. However, with western blot only a crude qualitative output can be achieved, and it is unreliable in identifying sites of modification and in making quantitative estimates where mass spectrometry has played a significant role. With the advent of mass spectrometry the information regarding PTMs has increased exponentially, in particular, the challenging task of relative quantitation (degree of modification between two sites) and absolute quantitation (proportion of modified versus unmodified site) has been made possible. This research topic invites original research papers and review articles which highlight the current progress made with respect to the strategies adopted to characterize PTMs by mass spectrometry especially methods involved in enriching modified protein or peptide, strategies utilized in quantitating PTMs, existing pitfalls relevant in quantitation strategies and new ways to counteract them.
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