Cysteine post-translational modifications: ten years from chemical proteomics to bioinformatics

As the only thiol-bearing amino acid, cysteine (Cys) residues in proteins have the reactive thiol side chain, which is susceptible to a series of post-translational modifications (PTMs). These PTMs participate in a wide range of biological activities including the alteration of enzymatic reactions, protein-protein interactions and protein stability. Here we summarize the advance of cysteine PTM identification technologies and the features of the various kinds of the PTMs. We also discuss in silico approaches for the prediction of the different types of cysteine modified sites, giving directions for future study.