Abstract
Covalent modification of histones on chromatin is a dynamic mechanism by which various nuclear processes are regulated. Methylation of histone H3 on lysine 4 (H3K4) implemented by the macromolecular complex COMPASS and its related complexes is associated with transcriptionally active regions of chromatin. Enzymes that catalyze H3K4 methylation were initially characterized genetically as regulators of Hox loci, long before their catalytic functions were recognized. Since their discovery, genetic and biochemical studies of H3K4 methylases and demethylases have provided important mechanistic insight into the role of H3K4 methylation in HOX gene regulation during development.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 240-249 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Developmental Biology |
| Volume | 339 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 15 2010 |
Funding
We thank Dr. Edwin Smith for helpful comments on the manuscript and Dr. Zoya Avramova for helpful discussion on Arabidopsis COMPASS. We thank Dr. Philip Ingham and the International Journal of Developmental Biology for permission to use the image shown in Fig. 1 B. The work in authors' laboratories is supported by NSF grant MCB 0724501 to JCE and NIH R01CA89455, R01GM069905 to A.S.
Keywords
- Compass complex
- HOX genes
- Histone methylation
- MLL
- SET domain
- Trithorax
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology