question: What is protein carbamylation?
answer: Protein carbamylation is a post-translational modification that can occur in the presence of urea. In solution, urea is in equilibrium with ammonium cyanate, and carbamylation occurs when cyanate ions react with the amino groups of lysines, arginines, protein N-termini, as well as sulfhydryl groups of cysteines. Protein carbamylation is one of the important post-translational modifications, which plays a pivotal role in a number of biological conditions, such as diseases, chronic renal failure and atherosclerosis.