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From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

Lysine, abbreviated Lys or L, is one of the twenty common amino acids used by living organisms to build proteins. It is one of three positively-charge amino acids along with arginine and histidine. Because of the positive charge, lysine is mostly found exposed on the surface of a protein structure. DNA-binding proteins tend to have many lysines (and arginines) to enhance binding with the negatively-charged phosphate backbone of DNA molecules.