S-palmitoylation during retinoic acid induced neuronal differentiation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells

S-palmitoylation is the covalent attachment of palmitic acid to cysteine residues through a thioester bond. S-palmitoylation is highly abundant in neurons, where it plays a fundamental role in neuronal development. In addition, S-palmitoylation is associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease. However, knowledge of S-palmitoylation in neurodevelopment is limited due to technological challenges in analysing this highly hydrophobic modification of proteins. Here, we use two orthogonal methods, acyl-biotin exchange and lipid metabolic labelling, to identify S-acylated proteins and sites in neuronal cells. We identified 650 S-palmitoylated proteins by both methods, including proteins that are well-known for their role in neuronal differentiation. Importantly, significant changes in the abundance of S-palmitoylated proteins were detected during neuronal differentiation. Overall, the combination of methods described here provides the advantage of cross-validation of the identified S-palmitoylated proteins and should be used further to study S-palmitoylation in the central nervous system to understand physiology and neurodegenerative diseases.