The PCome of Caenorhabditis elegans as a prototypic model system for parasitic nematodes: Identification of phosphorylcholine-substituted proteins

In this study we have analyzed the PCome of C. elegans to identify the PCho-modified proteins. Furthermore, we investigated the dynamics of this modification by analyzing the different developmental stages of this nematode. Our results demonstrate highly dynamic changes of this modification during development. Furthermore, we could show that this substitution can occur on proteins with large functional diversity and subcellular localization. We could further demonstrate that the PCho-modification greatly depends on proper N-glycosylation. However, there is clear indication that there might be a high structural diversity of the PCho-epitopes.