protein lysine methylation, is a PTM involving the transfer of one, two or three methyl groups to the epsilon - amine of a lysine side chain. Lysine methylation represents a complex and often elusive PTM that has nonetheless the potential to alter the function of the modified protein. lysine methylation has been observed in both nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins and is now considered a prevalent modification in eukaryotes, prokaryotes and archaea. Two groups of enzymes, both using S - adenosyl - L - methionine (SAM) as a methyl donor, catalyze the addition of a methyl group to the epsilon - amine group of a lysine side chain. The first type of protein lysine methyltransferase regroups the enzymes containing a catalytic SET domain and the second class of PKMTs, the seven beta - strand methyltransferases (class I methyltransferases), belongs to an extended superfamily of methyltransferases found throughout eukaryotes, prokaryotes and archaea.

Reference
Pubmed: Lanouette S, Mongeon V, Figeys D, Couture JF. The functional diversity of protein lysine methylation. Mol Syst Biol. 2014 Apr 8;10:724. doi: 10.1002/msb.134974.