Microproteins: from behind the scenes to the spotlight

Abstract

Microproteins, less than 200 amino acids, have been usually regarded as non-functional for a long time. We do not recognize this “dark matter” in the proteome until developing new bioinformatic, biochemical and proteomic techniques. The fast-growing number of the identified microproteins and their emerging roles in various biological processes begin to attract more and more attention. Here, we summarize the recent progress in this field mainly from four aspects: (1) brief history and various definitions of microproteins; (2) three main strategies to identify microproteins; (3) multiple regulatory mechanisms of microproteins; (4) biological functions of microproteins, with a particular focus on genome stability maintenance and their relevance to human diseases. Finally, we discuss some open questions and therapeutic opportunities hiding in these small newcomers.

Funding

Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation(5204036); National Key R&D Program of China(2019YFA0903900); National Natural Science Foundation of China(31770084)