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EntityQ421331· pop 19· linked from 708 articles

Sirtuins are a family of signaling proteins involved in metabolic regulation. They are ancient in animal evolution and appear to possess a highly conserved structure throughout all kingdoms of life. Chemically, sirtuins are a class of proteins that possess either mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase or deacylase activity, including deacetylase, desuccinylase, demalonylase, demyristoylase and depalmitoylase activity. The name Sir2 comes from the yeast gene 'silent mating-type information regulation 2', the gene responsible for cellular regulation in yeast.

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11 sections
Contents
  • Actions and species distribution
  • History
  • Types
  • Ageing
  • Tissue fibrosis
  • DNA repair in laboratory studies
  • Inhibitors
  • Activators
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Sirtuins are a family of signaling proteins involved in metabolic regulation. They are ancient in animal evolution and appear to possess a highly conserved structure throughout all kingdoms of life. Chemically, sirtuins are a class of proteins that possess either mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase or deacylase activity, including deacetylase, desuccinylase, demalonylase, demyristoylase and depalmitoylase activity. The name Sir2 comes from the yeast gene 'silent mating-type information regulation 2', the gene responsible for cellular regulation in yeast.

Yeast Sir2 and some, but not all, sirtuins are protein deacetylases. Unlike other known protein deacetylases, which simply hydrolyze acetyl-lysine residues, the sirtuin-mediated deacetylation reaction couples lysine deacetylation to NAD+ hydrolysis. This hydrolysis yields O-acetyl-ADP-ribose, the deacetylated substrate and nicotinamide, which is an inhibitor of sirtuin activity itself.

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