Lysine acetylation is a widespread and versatile protein post-translational modification. Lysine acetyltransferases and lysine deacetylases catalyse the addition or removal, respectively, of acetyl groups at both histone and non-histone targets. In this Review, we discuss several features of acetylation and deacetylation, including their diversity of targets, rapid turnover, exquisite sensitivity to the concentrations of the cofactors acetyl-CoA, acyl-CoA and NAD⁺, and tight interplay with metabolism. Histone acetylation and non-histone protein acetylation influence a myriad of cellular and physiological processes, including transcription, phase separation, autophagy, mitosis, differentiation and neural function. The activity of lysine acetyltransferases and lysine deacetylases can, in turn, be regulated by metabolic states, diet and specific small molecules. Histone acetylation has also recently been shown to mediate cellular memory. These features enable acetylation to integrate the cellular state with transcriptional output and cell-fate decisions.

赖氨酸乙酰化是一种广泛而通用的蛋白质翻译后修饰。赖氨酸乙酰转移酶和赖氨酸脱乙酰酶分别催化组蛋白和非组蛋白靶标上乙酰基的添加或去除。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了乙酰化和去乙酰化的几个特征，包括它们的靶点多样性、快速周转、对辅因子乙酰辅酶 A、酰基辅酶 A 和 NAD ^{+浓度的高度敏感性}，并与新陈代谢紧密相互作用。组蛋白乙酰化和非组蛋白乙酰化影响无数细胞和生理过程，包括转录、相分离、自噬、有丝分裂、分化和神经功能。赖氨酸乙酰转移酶和赖氨酸脱乙酰酶的活性又可以受代谢状态、饮食和特定小分子的调节。最近还显示组蛋白乙酰化可介导细胞记忆。这些特征使乙酰化能够将细胞状态与转录输出和细胞命运决定结合起来。