Comprehensive analysis of lysine crotonylation modification in patients with chronic renal failure

BACKGROUND: Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are at the heart of many cellular signaling events, which changes the function of protein. Crotonylation, one of the most important and common PTMs, plays a crucial role in the regulation of various biological processes. However, no study has evaluated the role of lysine crotonylation modification in chronic renal failure (CRF) patients. METHODS: Here, we comparatively evaluated the crotonylation proteome of normal controls and chronic renal failure patients using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) coupled with highly sensitive immune-affinity purification. RESULTS: A total of 1109 lysine modification sites were identified, of which 772 sites were up-regulated and 69 sites were down-regulated. This suggested that crotonylation modification maintains high levels in the patients with chronic renal failure. Gene ontology(GO) enrichment analysis showed that the crotonylated proteins were significantly enriched in the platelet alpha granule lumen, platelet degradulation, and cell adhesion molecule binding. In addition, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG)-based functional enrichment analysis in the Kyoto encyclopedia showed that crotonylated protein was enriched in CD36, which is closely linked to renal failure. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of the global crotonylation proteome in chronic renal failure patients. Crotonylation of histone and non-histone may play important roles in delaying the continuous deterioration of renal function in patients with chronic renal failure. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-021-02445-4.