Known and Unexplored Post-Translational Modification Pathways in Schizophrenia

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins occur in all domains of life, affecting various structural and functional properties. Multiple methods can be used to study PTMs depending on the biological question, which can vary widely. Schizophrenia is a widespread brain disorder that possesses many known contributing environmental factors and hundreds of genetic risk factors; however, a full picture of the mechanisms behind how and why this disorder occurs and how it can be treated remains unknown. Various PTMs have been found to be differentially expressed in several pathways that are dysregulated in schizophrenia, as seen in cell line and animal models, postmortem brain tissue from people with schizophrenia, and biological fluids like blood, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid. Despite recent advances, several pathways have been completely left undisturbed by PTMomics and show great promise for better understanding of protein dynamics in schizophrenia, how the disease state occurs, and how it may be better treated in future therapies.