Mechanistic insights into the regulation of metabolic enzymes by acetylation

The activity of metabolic enzymes is controlled by three principle levels: the amount of enzyme, the catalytic activity, and the accessibility of substrates. Reversible lysine acetylation is emerging as a major regulatory mechanism in metabolism that is involved in all three levels of controlling metabolic enzymes and is altered frequently in human diseases. Acetylation rivals other common post-translational modifications in cell regulation not only in the number of substrates it modifies, but also the variety of regulatory mechanisms it facilitates.