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The biological functions of protein lactylation

CHEN Jia-Qi¹, HE Yue-Jing², ZHENG Hui-Ling¹, YUAN Yuan^1,3, JIANG Zhi-Wen³, CHEN Jia-Jin¹, ZHENG Xin-Yi¹, LIU Xin-Guang¹, SUN Xue-Rong^1,*

¹Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Medical Technology, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan 523808, China；²Department of Laboratory Medicine, Dongguan Eighth People's Hospital, Dongguan 523325, China ；³Department of Biotechnology, College of Basic Medical Science, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan 523808, China

Abstract

Lactylation is one of the post-translational modifications of proteins, a process in which lactyl residues bind to the lysine residues of proteins. This modification can alter the structure, stability, and function of proteins, which in turn regulates cellular metabolism, aging, and the onset of disease. This review classifies proteins with lactylation effects into histones and non-histone proteins and analyzes their functional roles when lactylation occurs. The in-depth exploration of lactylation is still in its infancy, and many aspects of its regulation, functional significance and therapeutic potential need to be further explored.

Key words: lactylation; post-translational modifications; biological function; histones; non-histone proteins

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 孙雪荣　　E-mail:

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2025.0094

Citing This Article：

CHEN Jia-Qi, HE Yue-Jing, ZHENG Hui-Ling, YUAN Yuan, JIANG Zhi-Wen, CHEN Jia-Jin, ZHENG Xin-Yi, LIU Xin-Guang, SUN Xue-Rong. The biological functions of protein lactylation. Acta Physiol Sin 2025; 77 (6): 1035-1046