Acetylation

Acetylation is an important process in the body that many of us don't know about. Acetylation is the addition of a small group called an acetyl group. What the acetyl groups do is help regulate access to DNA and regulate gene expression. They activate and deactivate proteins in the body. Scientists believe that this may be useful in treating diseases by controlling the process of acetylation.

Biochemist Kun-Liang of the University of California and his colleagues found that more than a thousand proteins and enzymes that were associated with metabolism were acetylated. His colleague biochemist Chunaram Choudhary examined human cancer cells and found 1,750 acetylated proteins. This helps us know that acetylation helps metabolism to allow us to obtain energy. Knowing this may help us solve problems such as diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

We should care because studies like this may help contribute to eliminate diseases that have no cure. Choudhary said that this process may be a very simple and efficient way to treat these diseases. We can use acetylation to turn on or off specific proteins in our body. Not many people have heard of this process and it could be a life changer in the future.

Source: Zhang, Bo. "The Body's Master Switch". Discover August 2010: 18-18.