Mitotic-specific methylation of histone H4 Lys 20 follows increased PR-Set7 expression and its localization to mitotic chromosomes (original) (raw)

  1. Judd C. Rice1,4,
  2. Kenichi Nishioka2,4,
  3. Kavitha Sarma2,
  4. Ruth Steward3,
  5. Danny Reinberg2, and
  6. C. David Allis1,5
  7. 1Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908-0733, USA; 2Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Division of Nucleic Acids Enzymology, Department of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA; 3Waksman Institute, Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA

Abstract

We describe distinct patterns of histone methylation during human cell cycle progression. Histone H4 methyltransferase activity was found to be cell cycle-regulated, consistent with increased H4 Lys 20 methylation at mitosis. This increase closely followed the cell cycle-regulated expression of the H4 Lys 20 methyltransferase, PR-Set7. Localization of PR-Set7 to mitotic chromosomes and subsequent increase in H4 Lys 20 methylation were inversely correlated to transient H4 Lys 16 acetylation in early S-phase. These data suggest that H4 Lys 20 methylation by PR-Set7 during mitosis acts to antagonize H4 Lys 16 acetylation and to establish a mechanism by which this mark is epigenetically transmitted.

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