Detection and Analysis of S-Acylated Proteins via Acyl Resin–Assisted Capture (Acyl-RAC)

Protein palmitoylation is a lipid modification where a palmitoyl group is covalently attached via a thioester linkage to one or more cysteines on a substrate protein. This modification, catalyzed by a group of enzymes named DHHC enzymes after their conserved Asp-His-His-Cys motif, plays a significant role in regulating the localization, stability, and function of a wide range of cellular and viral proteins. By influencing how and where proteins interact within the cell, palmitoylation is essential for various cellular processes, including signaling pathways, membrane dynamics, and protein–protein interactions. Here, we describe the acyl-RAC assay, a biochemical technique designed to specifically enrich and analyze palmitoylated proteins from complex biological samples, such as cell lysates or tissue extracts. The assay begins by reducing and blocking free cysteine thiol groups on proteins, ensuring that only those thiols involved in thioester bonds with palmitates are accessible for downstream analysis. These thioester bonds are then cleaved to release the fatty acids from the cysteines, which are subsequently captured using thiopropyl Sepharose beads that bind to the newly exposed thiol groups. The captured proteins are eluted from the beads by breaking the bond between the thiol and the resin with reducing agents, and the proteins are then analyzed by SDS-PAGE followed by western blotting to identify and quantify them. The acyl-RAC assay's specificity for S-palmitoylated proteins makes it an invaluable tool for exploring this modification. It not only allows for the identification of previously unknown palmitoylated proteins, thereby deepening our understanding of palmitoylation in cellular processes and viral infections, but it also enables quantitative comparisons of protein palmitoylation under different experimental conditions or treatments.