Histone methyltransferase

euchromatic histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 1
Identifiers
Symbol EHMT1
Entrez 79813
HUGO 24650
OMIM 607001
RefSeq NM_024757
UniProt Q9H9B1
Other data
EC number 2.1.1.43
Locus Chr. 9 [1]

Histone methyltransferases (HMT) are enzymes, histone-lysine N-methyltransferase and histone-arginine N-methyltransferase, that catalyze the transfer of one to three methyl groups from the cofactor S-Adenosyl methionine to lysine and arginine residues of histone proteins. These proteins often contain a SET (Su(var)3-9, Enhancer of Zeste, Trithorax) domain, however the recently discovered HMT Dot1 lacks the characteristic SET domain.

Contents

Role in gene regulation

Histone methylation serves in epigenetic gene regulation. Methylated histones bind DNA more tightly, which inhibits transcription.

Methylated histones can either repress or activate transcription as different experimental findings suggest. See Histone#Chromatin regulation.

See also

References

External links