Which enzyme is responsible for histone methylation?

In histone methylation, histone methyltransferases add the methyl mark and histone demethylases remove the methylation; while in acetylating histones, histone acetyltransferases catalyze the addition of acetyl groups and histone deacetylases remove the acetylation mark.

What does histone methylation do?

Methylation of histones can either increase or decrease transcription of genes, depending on which amino acids in the histones are methylated, and how many methyl groups are attached. This process is critical for the regulation of gene expression that allows different cells to express different genes.

What do histone modifying enzymes do?

Histone modifying enzymes catalyze the addition or removal of an array of covalent modifications in histones and non-histone proteins.

What causes methylation of histones?

Histone methylation is the modification of certain amino acids in a histone protein by the addition of one, two, or three methyl groups. In the cell nucleus, DNA is wound around histones. However, methylation of some lysine and arginine residues of histones results in transcriptional activation.

Is histone methylation heritable?

By definition, one characteristic feature of epigenetic information is heritability. However, the types of histone modification that are indeed inherited during mitotic divisions are largely unknown. Among histone modifications with known half-life, histone lysine methylation appears to be the most stable.

What do histone deacetylase inhibitors do?

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are a relatively new class of anti-cancer agents that play important roles in epigenetic or non-epigenetic regulation, inducing death, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest in cancer cells.

What are histone deacetylase enzymes?

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are enzymes that catalyze the removal of acetyl functional groups from the lysine residues of both histone and nonhistone proteins. In humans, there are 18 HDAC enzymes that use either zinc- or NAD+-dependent mechanisms to deacetylate acetyl lysine substrates.