AGMAT encodes a mitochondrial enzyme that primarily functions as a guanidino acid hydrolase rather than a true agmatinase. The enzyme hydrolyzes linear guanidino acids including taurocyamine, guanidinobutyrate, and guanidinopropionate to form urea and corresponding amines, but shows virtually no activity against agmatine itself 1. AGMAT requires substrates with negatively charged head groups and demonstrates substrate specificity differences between naturally occurring variants 1. The enzyme appears to function in cellular detoxification by metabolizing potentially harmful guanidino acids 1. In cancer contexts, AGMAT is overexpressed in lung adenocarcinoma where it promotes tumorigenesis through nitric oxide-MAPK-PI3K/Akt pathway activation 2. The protein shows cancer-selective posttranscriptional regulation in esophageal adenocarcinoma 3. In colorectal cancer, low AGMAT expression in cancer cells is associated with recruitment of pro-tumorigenic cancer-associated fibroblasts 4. Additionally, AGMAT plays a role in neuropsychiatric conditions, with increased expression in the ventral hippocampus contributing to depressive and anxiety-like behaviors in chr1 stress models 5. The enzyme's substrates are produced by glycine amidinotransferase, suggesting coordinated guanidino acid metabolism 1.