Epigenetic modifications, such as acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, ubiquitination, and ADP ribosylation, of the highly conserved core histones, H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, influence the genetic potential of DNA. The enormous regulatory potential of histone modification is illustrated in the vast array of epigenetic markers found throughout the genome. More than the other types of histone mo...

A rare histone modification, arginine methylation, has been linked to activation of hormone-responsive genes. Interestingly, methylation of a lysine residue in the same histone is present prior to hormone activation, but is excluded from the active loci.

In this issue, Garcia-Bassets et al. (2007) show that spurious transcriptional activation by unliganded nuclear receptors is inhibited by histone lysine methylation. This inhibitory histone modification code is efficiently countered by the ligand-dependent recruitment of histone lysine demethylases, including lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), which appear to be used for this purpose by a nu...

The pattern of histone modifications, called the histone code, influences transitions between chromatin states and the regulation of transcriptional activity. Four recent papers describe how plant homeodomain (PHD) finger proteins read part of this code. The PHD finger may promote both gene expression and repression through interactions with trimethylated lysine 4 on histone 3 (H3K4), a univers...

It has been established that regulation of chromatin structure through post-translational modification of histone proteins, primarily histone H3 phosphorylation and acetylation, is an important early step in the induction of synaptic plasticity and formation of long-term memory. In this study, we investigated the contribution of another histone modification, histone methylation, to memory forma...

We performed whole exome sequence (WES) to identify genetic modifiers on 184 individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), of whom 89 case subjects had severe congenital heart disease (CHD) and 95 control subjects had normal hearts. Three genes including JMJD1C (jumonji domain containing 1C), RREB1 (Ras responsive element binding protein 1), and SEC24C (SEC24 family member C) had rare (...

Active Motif's unique portfolio of histone technologies provides researchers with a complete solution for the analysis of histones and their post-translational modifications, beginning with histone purification and continuing through to chromatin assembly. Let Active Motif's antibodies, enzymes and modification-specific assays simplify your histone analysis.

The impact of histone acetylation on transcription was revealed over 50 years ago by Allfrey and colleagues. However, it took decades for an understanding of the fine mechanism by which this posttranslational modification affects chromatin structure and promotes transcription. Here, we review breakthroughs linking histone tail acetylation, histone dynamics, and transcription. We also discuss th...

Vertebrate embryos are derived from a transitory pool of pluripotent cells. By the process of embryonic induction, these precursor cells are assigned to specific fates and differentiation programs. Histone post-translational modifications are thought to play a key role in the establishment and maintenance of stable gene expression patterns underlying these processes. While on gene level histone...

The functional capacity of genetically encoded histone proteins can be powerfully expanded by posttranslational modification. A growing body of biochemical and genetic evidence clearly links the unique combinatorial patterning of side chain acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation mainly within the highly conserved N termini of histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 with the regulation of gene expr...