Master of all things phosphorylated

Serine/threonine phosphorylation plays a central role in cellular regulation, either by altering a protein's activity directly or by inducing specific protein–protein interactions, which, in turn, affect localization, binding specificity or activity. One group of molecules that bind to phosphoserine/phosphothreonine-containing sequences are the 14-3-3 proteins, which regulate a wide range of cellular targets. A new analysis of the 14-3-3 phosphoproteome using affinity chromatography has revealed many previously unknown 14-3-3 ligands whose binding to 14-3-3 proteins is phosphorylation-dependent. This study by the Mackintosh group in this issue of the Biochemical Journal paves the way for future work on these important 14-3-3-interacting proteins.