Signal patch

Schematic of 4 different protein signals that enable localisation in the cell

A protein signal patch contains information to send a given protein to the indicated location in the cell. It is made up of amino acid residues that are distant to one another in the primary sequence, but come close to each other in the tertiary structure of the folded protein (see red patch in the diagram). Signal patches, unlike some signal sequences, are not cleaved from the mature protein after sorting. They are very difficult to predict. Nuclear localization signals are often signal patches although signal sequences also exist. They are found on proteins destined for the nucleus and enable their selective transport from the cytosol into the nucleus through the nuclear pore complexes.

Proteins: key methods of study

Experimental	Protein purification Green fluorescent protein Western blot Protein immunostaining Protein sequencing Gel electrophoresis/Protein electrophoresis Protein immunoprecipitation Peptide mass fingerprinting/Protein mass spectrometry Dual-polarization interferometry Microscale thermophoresis Chromatin immunoprecipitation Surface plasmon resonance Isothermal titration calorimetry X-ray crystallography Protein NMR Cryo-electron microscopy Freeze-fracture electron microscopy

Bioinformatics	Protein structure prediction Protein–protein docking Protein structural alignment Protein ontology Protein–protein interaction prediction

Assay	Enzyme assay Protein assay Secretion assay

Display techniques	Bacterial display mRNA display Phage display Ribosome display Yeast display

Super-resolution microscopy	Photoactivated localization microscopy Vertico SMI

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Signal patch

See also