Transcription factors and RNA polymerase II can be modified by O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) monosaccharides at serine or threonine residues, yet the precise functional roles of this modification are largely unknown. Here, we show that O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), the enzyme that catalyzes this posttranslational modification, interacts with a histone deacetylase complex by binding to t...

Accumulating evidence suggests that epigenetic aberrations play definite roles in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. These include aberrations in genomic DNA methylation, microRNA expression, and histone modification. The aberrant histone modification status and the aberrant expression of histone deacetylases, which regulate histone acetylation, in endometriosis are the focus of this review. He...

Propionylation has been identified recently as a new type of protein post-translational modification. Bacterial propionyl-CoA synthetase and human histone H4 are propionylated at specific lysine residues that have been known previously to be acetylated. However, other proteins subject to this modification remain to be identified, and the modifying enzymes involved need to be characterized. In t...

Histone modifications are key components of chromatin packaging but whether they constitute a 'code' has been contested. We believe that the central issue is causality: are histone modifications responsible for differences between chromatin states, or are differences in modifications mostly consequences of dynamic processes, such as transcription and nucleosome remodeling? We find that inferenc...

Signal transduction pathways alter the gene expression program in response to extracellular or intracellular cues. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) govern numerous cellular processes including cell growth, stress response, apoptosis, and differentiation. In the past decade, MAPKs have been shown to regulate the transcription machinery and associate with chromatin-modifying complexes. M...