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Nature Chemical Biology 1, 126–127 (1 August 2005) | doi:10.1038/nchembio0805-126

Controlled S-nitrosation

Steven R Tannenbaum & Ji-Eun Kim

Nitrosation of thiol groups on peptides and proteins has emerged as a major mechanism of cellular signaling and has been the subject of numerous recent articles and reviews. Although evidence for S-nitrosation (the nitric oxide (NO) adduct with cysteine) is unequivocal in vivo, the missing link has been the question of whether S-nitrosation is a random, nonselective process or whether it is directed to specific sites on specific proteins like other post-translational modifications.