A major role of lysine is in epigenetic regulation by means of histone modification. Is an important structural protein of connective tissues, involved in calcium homeostasis, and fatty acid metabolism.
Lysine has been shown to be involved in the crosslinking between the three helical polypeptides in collagen, resulting in its stability and tensile strength.
Lysine has also been proposed to be involved in calcium intestinal absorption and renal retention, and thus, may play a role in calcium homeostasis.
Lysine has been shown to be a precursor for carnitine, which transports fatty acids to the mitochondria, where they can be oxidized for the release of energy.
Lysine is essential for color vision. In opsins like rhodopsin and the visual opsins (encoded by the genes OPN1SW, OPN1MW, and OPN1LW), retinaldehyde forms a Schiff base with a conserved lysine residue, and interaction of light with the retinylidene group causes signal transduction in color vision (See visual cycle for details).
There has been a long discussion that lysine, when administered intravenously or orally, can significantly increase the release of growth hormones. This has led to athletes using lysine as a means of promoting muscle growth while training.
Because herpes simplex virus (HSV) proteins are richer in arginine and poorer in lysine than the cells they infect, lysine supplements have been tried as a treatment. Since the two amino acids are taken up in the intestine, reclaimed in the kidney, and moved into cells by the same amino acid transporters, an abundance of lysine would, in theory, limit the amount of arginine available for viral replication.
Lysine has also been shown to play a role in anemia, as lysine is suspected to have an effect on the uptake of iron and, subsequently, the concentration of ferritin in blood plasma.
Due to a lack of lysine catabolism, the amino acid accumulates in plasma and patients may develop hyperlysinemia, which can present as asymptomatic to severe neurological disabilities, including epilepsy, ataxia, spasticity, and psychomotor impairment. The clinical significance of hyperlysinemia is the subject of debate in the field with some studies finding no correlation between physical or mental disabilities and hyperlysinemia.
