Endoplasmic reticulum localization of DHHC palmitoyltransferases mediated by lysine-based sorting signals.

Intracellular palmitoylation dynamics are regulated by a family of 24 DHHC (aspartate-histidine-histidine-cysteine) palmitoyltransferases, which are localized in a compartment-specific manner. The majority of DHHC proteins localize to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi membranes, and a small number target to post-Golgi membranes. To date, there are no reports of the fine mapping of sorting signals in mammalian DHHC proteins; thus, it is unclear how spatial distribution of the DHHC family is achieved.