Recent Progress in Predicting Posttranslational Modification Sites in Proteins

The posttranslational modification or PTM is a later but subtle step in protein biosynthesis via which to change the properties of a protein by adding a modified group to its one or more amino acid residues. PTMs are responsible for many significant biological processes, and meanwhile for many major diseases as well, such as cancer. Facing the avalanche of biological sequences generated in the post-genomic age, it is important for both basic research and drug development to timely identify the PTM sites in proteins. This Review is devoted to summarize the recent progresses in this area, with a focus on those predictors, which were developed based on the pseudo amino acid composition or PseAAC approach, and for which a publicly accessible web-server has been established. Meanwhile, the future challenge in this area has also been briefly addressed.