Recent advances in characterization of citrullination and its implication in human disease research: From method development to network integration

Post-translational modifications (PTM) of proteins increase the functional diversity of the proteome and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. The most widely understood modifications include phosphorylation, methylation, acetylation, O-linked/N-linked glycosylation, and ubiquitination, all of which have been extensively studied and documented. Citrullination is a historically less explored, yet increasingly studied, protein PTM which has profound effects on protein conformation and protein-protein interactions. Dysregulation of protein citrullination has been associated with disease development and progression. Identification and characterization of citrullinated proteins is highly challenging, complicated by the low cellular abundance of citrullinated proteins, making it difficult to identify and quantify the extent of citrullination in samples, coupled with challenges associated with development of mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods, as the corresponding mass shift is relatively small, +0.984 Da, and identical to the mass shift of deamidation. The focus of this review is to discuss recent advancements of citrullination-specific MS approaches and integration of the potential methodology for improved citrullination identification and characterization. In addition, the association of citrullination in disease networks is also highlighted.