Roles of H3K36-specific histone methyltransferases in transcription: antagonizing silencing and safeguarding transcription fidelity

Chang Huang; Bing Zhu

doi:10.1007/s41048-018-0063-1

Roles of H3K36-specific histone methyltransferases in transcription: antagonizing silencing and safeguarding transcription fidelity

Biophys Rep. 2018;4(4):170-177. doi: 10.1007/s41048-018-0063-1. Epub 2018 Aug 29.

Authors

Chang Huang¹, Bing Zhu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ 1National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China.
² 2College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China.

Abstract

Histone H3K36 methylation is well-known for its role in active transcription. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, H3K36 methylation is mediated solely by SET2 during transcription elongation. In metazoans, multiple H3K36-specific methyltransferases exist and contribute to distinct biochemical activities and subsequent functions. In this review, we focus on the H3K36-specific histone methyltransferases in metazoans, and discuss their enzymatic activity regulation and their roles in antagonizing Polycomb silencing and safeguarding transcription fidelity.

Keywords: Ash1L; H3K36 methylation; Histone methyltransferase; NSD; SETD2.

Publication types

Review