Identification of Giardia lamblia DHHC Proteins and the Role of Protein S-palmitoylation in the Encystation Process: e2997

Protein S-palmitoylation (hereafter referred to as palmitoylation), the post-translational addition of palmitic acid (16:0) to cysteine residues of proteins, is a PTM essential for proper membrane trafficking to defined intracellular membranes or membrane sub-domains, protein stability, protein turnover, and vesicle fusion [10], [11], [12]. All these findings were crucial in defining palmitoylation as an enzymatic process and led to subsequent identification of protein acyltransferases in many other organisms, such as mammals [21], [22], plants [23], and protozoan parasites like Toxoplasma gondii [24], [25], Plasmodium [26], [25], and Trypanosoma brucei [27].\n Our data, suggesting the presence of DHHC proteins in growing and encysting parasites, reinforced the idea that this PTM has conserved and important functions in cell-signaling, protein-sorting and protein-export throughout evolution. [...]the suggested role of palmitoylation in Giardia encystation, a key event that enables the parasite to survive in the environment, infect a new host and evade the immune response [1], [103], could open new ways to intervene in the process of Giardia infection.