Figure 1.

Reaction schematic of N^α- and N^ε-acetylation. Acetylation can occur by two primary mechanisms. (Left) Acetylation of small molecules or N termini of proteins is characterized by addition of an acetyl group to N^α-amino group. (Left, bottom) R represents an amino acid side chain of a protein or peptide. (Right) Generally, N^α-amino acetylation is irreversible. Acetylation of lysyl residues of proteins occurs posttranslationally at the N^ε-amino group and can be reversed by deacetylases.