Sharon Dent: The unfolding SAGA of chromatin-modifying proteins

JCB • VOLUME 212 • NUMBER 1 • 2016 4 Histone modifi cations come in many fl avors—phosphorylation, methylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination—that interact with each other to regulate the folding state of chromatin, with profound effects on gene expression. For example, histone acetylation reduces the affi nity of histone N termini for DNA, promoting chromatin relaxation and allowing transcription factors easy access to DNA. Such modifi cations are essential for regulating the changes to genome organization and gene expression that take place during organismal development and cellular differentiation. Studying chromatin modifi cations is the research calling of Sharon Dent, Chair of the Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her efforts have helped untangle the developmental (1, 2) and regulatory (3–5) functions of proteins involved in histone modifi cation. As it turns out, these sometimes don’t involve histones at all (4, 5). We recently called her to learn more.