Why does palmitoylation enhance membrane association?
Increasing membrane residence time via acylation leverages hydrophobic insertion energy of long chain fatty acid. S-palmitoylation attaches sixteen-carbon saturated palmitate from palmitoyl-CoA donor to cysteine thiol via thioester bond catalyzed by twenty three mammalian Asp-His-His-Cys palmitoyl acyltransferases resident in endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi and plasma membrane, reversible by cytosolic acyl-protein thioesterases APT1, APT2 and ABHD17 family enabling dynamic cycling within minutes to hours responsive to neuronal activity and growth factor signaling. Added acyl chain raises partitio
Ref: Linder and Deschenes, Protein Palmitoylation and Membrane Targeting, Nature Reviews Mol Cell Biol 2007.