Lysine Malonylation and Its Links to Metabolism and Diseases

Malonylation is a recently identified post-translational modification with malonyl-coenzyme A as the donor. It conserved both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recent advances in the identification and quantification of lysine malonylation by bioinformatic analysis have improved our understanding of its role in the regulation of protein activity, interaction, and localization and have elucidated its involvement in many biological processes. Malonylation has been linked to diverse physiological processes, including metabolic disorders, inflammation, and immune regulation. This review discusses malonylation in theory, describes the underlying mechanism, and summarizes the recent progress in malonylation research. The latest findings point to novel functions of malonylation and highlight the mechanisms by which malonylation regulates a variety of cellular processes. Our review also marks the association between lysine malonylation, the enzymes involved, and various diseases, and discusses promising diagnostic and therapeutic biomolecular targets for future clinical applications.