Advanced Research in Microproteins

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on microproteins aims to promote the understanding of the discovery, molecular and functional roles, and therapeutic potential of microproteins. Recent advances in omics-based technologies have identified many putative short open reading frames (sORFs) with protein-coding capacity in both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. There is now growing evidence of biologically functional micropeptides produced from the sORFs within cells of diverse species, from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. The recent characterization of these peptides has revealed their significant divergent roles in many fundamental biological processes such as RNA decapping, DNA repair, apoptosis, muscle formation, and metabolic homeostasis. Moreover, micropeptides are also involved in certain diseases in humans, including cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. Although some of the micropeptides are functionally characterized, the exact mechanism of their mode of action is unclear, and the vast majority of micropeptides are still hidden in the world of proteomics. A complete understanding of their action may play an important role in therapeutic purposes, where a drug may be designed by modulating or mimicking their function to regulate any biological pathway they may be involved in. sORF-encoded micropeptides are a new and important class of biological molecules and offer new avenues of research. This Special Issue presents the current knowledge in the emerging field of micropeptides in health and disease and recent advances in tools and approaches for micropeptide studies.

Dr. Su-Jeong Kim
Dr. Kelvin Yen
Guest Editors

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• micropeptides
• microproteins
• short open reading frames encoded peptides (SEPs)
• mitochondrial-derived peptides
• short open reading frames
• small peptide proteomics