Although histone proteins play an important role in DNA transcription, the participation of HATs and HDACs that form part of the transcription initiation complex with transcription factors and regulate histone proteins has not been fully investigated in the brain.
The fundamental unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, composed of DNA wrapped around an octamer of four core histone proteins (H2A, H2B, H3, and H4), each of which possesses a large number and type of modifiable residues [3,37].
Histone acetylation is preferentially carried out on specific lysine: for instance,
histone H3 is mainly acetylated in positions 9, 14, 18, and 23, while the lysine of
histone H4 that are preferentially acetylated are in positions 5, 8, 12, and 16.
Huang and Akbarian found an average 8-fold deficit in repressive chromatin-associated DNA methylation at GAD1 promoters in patients with schizophrenia [30] and it has been shown that
histone 3 (H3), one of the
histone proteins, was particularly dysregulated in schizophrenia patients [31].
In this study, Dang and his colleagues worked in the lab with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to investigate how the dosage of
histone genes would affect longevity.
A number of potential approaches have been proposed for the treatment of cancer, but
histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) are the emerging ones.
Evidence shows that DNA methylation,
histone post-translational modifications, and micro-RNA (miRNA)-associated gene silencing are found in both human and animal models of PAH (8).
The findings are the first to illustrate crosstalk between mRNA and
histone modifications, and may lead to new ways to target genes in the brain, Zhao said.
reported that the level of
histone H3 acetylation (H3ac) in the IL-6 promoter was significantly higher in RA synovial cells (SF) than in osteoarthritis (OA) SF [13].
BET proteins can also bind to acetylated residues in other proteins besides
histones, including transcription factors, regulating gene transcription.
Like many other molecular markers (rDNA, HSP70, COI, COII), genes for the
histone proteins (mainly H3 and H4) are being used as phylogenetic markers because of their considerable variation found in ciliates (Wang et al., 2016).
Grunstein, "
Histone acetylation in chromatin structure and transcription," Nature, vol.