A new finding - function of histone H3 in de novo DNA methylation
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Time: 2010-01-19
Research teams led by Dr. Jinqiu Zhou and Dr. Guoliang Xu at Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology recently found the function of histone H3 in de novo DNA methylation. This work was published on Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2009)106,22187-192.
DNA methylation plays important rolls on the regulation of gene expression and genome functions in various developmental and disease processes. Thus a fundamental question concerns how DNA methylation occurs in the first place. In this study, Jialei Hu and his colleagues exploited model organism, budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which lacks endogenous DNA methylation, to express Dnmt3s and revealed a requirement of the histone H3 tail for DNA methylation. The methylation function of Dnmt3a depends largely on the ability of Dnmt3L to recognize unmethylated H3K4 in target chromatin regions. This work is helpful to deepen the understanding on the role of histone modifications in targeting the DNA methylation machinery.
This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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