Disulfide bond formation generally occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum by oxidation. Therefore disulfide bonds are mostly found in extracellular, secreted and periplasmic proteins, although they can also be formed in cytoplasmic proteins under conditions of oxidative stress.

Where are disulfide bonds found in protein structure?

Disulfide bonds are a central structural element which stabilizes the mature proteins' 3D structure and/or exhibit physiologically relevant redox activity (Bosnjak et al., 2014). They are mostly found in secretory proteins and extracellular domains of membrane proteins.

What molecules have a disulfide bond?

A disulfide bond is a covalent bond between two sulfur atoms (–S–S–) formed by the coupling of two thiol (–SH) groups. Cysteine, one of 20 protein amino acids, has a –SH group in its side chain, and can easily be dimereized to cystine in aqueous solution by forming a disulfide bond.