Is Methylation Important?
First of all, we should define methylation. Strictly speaking, a methyl group consists of a carbon atom with three hydrogen atoms attached to it, and this is typed CH3. It turns out that the addition of methyl groups to proteins is an important process both for synthesizing new types of proteins and for determining how certain proteins behave. Additionally, methyl groups can be added directly to the DNA molecule and this process can determine the way DNA is transcribed to RNA, a fundamental first step in the process of gene expression. This area of biology is extraordinarily complex because regulation of any gene, or modification of any particular protein or amino acid, is intricately related to a myriad of tightly and exquisitely regulated biological processes. Accordingly, there are many unknowns about the effects of methylation on a given human disease. Presented below is a diagram that illustrates some aspects of methylation handling in our body. In this, one sees a listing of vari
