Histone acetyltransferase 1 is the founding member of the histone acetyltransferase superfamily and catalyzes lysine acetylation of newly synthesized histone H4. Here we report a 1.9-Å resolution crystal structure of human histone acetyltransferase 1 in complex with acetyl coenzyme A and histone H4 peptide. The crystal structure reveals that the cofactor and the side chain of lysine 12 of histo...

We describe here the identification and functional characterization of a novel human histone acetyltransferase, termed MORF (monocytic leukemia zinc finger protein-related factor). MORF is a 1781-residue protein displaying significant sequence similarity to MOZ (monocytic leukemia zinc finger protein). MORF is ubiquitously expressed in adult human tissues, and its gene is located at human chrom...

From yeast to human, the Spt-Ada-GCN5-acetyltransferase (SAGA) gigantic complex modifies chromatin during RNA polymerase II initiation and elongation steps facilitate transcription. Its enzymatic activity involves a histone acetyltransferase module (HATm) that acetylates multiple lysine residues on N-terminal tails of histones H2B H3 deubiquitination (DUBm) triggers co-transcriptional H2B. With...

The human NAT1 gene has nine exons. The coding region is located in exon 9 and spans 870 bp. Diverse NAT1 transcripts have been reported and two promoters exist. The first promoter, designated as P1 is located in the 5' flanking region of exon 1 and controls two major (a1 and a2) transcripts. The second promoter is located upstream of exon 4 and give rise to at least five (b1 to b5) different t...

The variation of choline acetyltransferase activity in ocular tissues of four mammalian species, rabbits, cats, cattle, and man, was determined. Enzyme activity of irides and ciliary bodies, i.e., parasympathetically innervated structures, tended to be similar in all four species. Two exceptions were bovine irides and human ciliary bodies; these two tissues had higher enzyme activities. Choline...

The adenylytransferase/acetyltransferase methods of gentamicin assay have been evaluated for accuracy, speed, and cost. For a comparable cost of materials the latter method is more accurate than that using the adenylytransferase enzyme. The acetyltransferase method is much quicker than the adenyltransferase due to the shorter time necessary for radioactive counting. Sonication is an easier meth...