PMID: 18794842 , Related PDB ids: 3C1B, 3C1C

Authors:

Lu X, Simon MD, Chodaparambil JV, Hansen JC, Shokat KM, Luger K

Title:

The effect of H3K79 dimethylation and H4K20 trimethylation on nucleosome and chromatin structure.

Journal:

Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2008 Oct;15(10):1122-4. Epub 2008 Sep 14.

Abstract:

Histone methylation regulates chromatin function dependent on the site and degree of the modification. In addition to creating binding sites for proteins, methylated lysine residues are likely to influence chromatin structure directly. Here we present crystal structures of nucleosomes reconstituted with methylated histones and investigate the folding behavior of resulting arrays. We demonstrate that dimethylation of histone H3 at lysine residue 79 locally alters the nucleosomal surface, whereas trimethylation of H4 at lysine residue 20 affects higher-order structure.