Acetyl group known as paracetamol), and acetylsalicylic acid (better known as aspirin). The introduction of an acetyl group into a molecule is called acetylation. In biological organisms, acetyl groups are commonly transferred from acetyl-CoA to other organic molecules. Acetyl-CoA is an intermediate both in the biological synthesis and in the breakdown of many organic molecules. Acetyl-CoA is also created during the second stage of cellular respiration, the Krebs Cycle, by the action of pyruvate dehydrogenase on pyruvic acid. Histones and other proteins are often modified by acetylation. For example, on the DNA level, histone acetylation by acetyltransferases (HATs) causes an expansion of
Aristolochic acid of aristolochic acid (AA) consumption. BEN is more slowly progressive than the nephritis that is seen in CHN, but is likely caused by low-level AA exposure, possibly from contamination of wheat flour seeds by a plant of the birthwort family, "Aristolochia clematitis". CHN and BEN fall under the umbrella of what is now known as aristolochic acid nephropathy, the prevalent symptom of AA poisoning. A study reported in the Science Translational Medicine journal in October 2017 reported high incidences of liver cancer in Asia, particularly Taiwan, which bore the "well-defined mutational signature" of aristolochic acids. The same link was found