A chemical process in which an acetyl group is added to a molecule, often used in manufacturing medicines, dyes, and in regulating how genes are expressed in cells.
From acetyl + -ation (noun-forming suffix meaning process or result). The term became standard in chemistry by the early 1900s as the reaction became industrially and biologically important.
Acetylation is literally a life-or-death process in your cells—it controls which genes are turned on or off, and abnormal acetylation patterns are linked to cancer, neurological disease, and aging, making enzymes that remove acetyl groups (HDACs) hot targets for new drugs.
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