Fig. 6

Protein palmitoylation and myristoylation within tumor, infectious diseases and neurological diseases in affecting protein-membrane binding. In the protein palmitoylation process, DHHC domain of ZDHHCs binds to the palmitoyl-CoA located in the membrane and undergoes autopalmitoylation, which is followed by a transfer of the palmitate group to the cysteine residue of the substrate protein, promoting the membrane localization of the substrates. The myristoylation process is similar with palmitoylation. First, NMT binds the fatty acid chain of myristoyl-CoA to form the myristoyl-CoA-NMT complex accompanied by substrate-binding pocket exposure, allowing the substrate protein to bind. Second, the NMT catalyzes N-myristoylpeptide formation through chemical transformation and releases the myristoylpeptide and CoA. These two kinds of PTMs promote tumor progression through regulating oncogenic signaling pathways, autophagy, tumor metabolism, ER stress, and tumor immune microenvironment. Besides, they are also critical to the infection of COVID-19, Rhinovirus and HIV, and play important roles in neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Huntington’s disease (HD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and depression