PMID: 30785395

Authors:

Guo Q, Liao S, Kwiatkowski S, Tomaka W, Yu H, Wu G, Tu X, Min J, Drozak J, Xu C

Title:

Structural insights into SETD3-mediated histidine methylation on beta-actin.

Journal:

Elife. 2019 Feb 20;8. pii: 43676. doi: 10.7554/eLife.43676.

Abstract:

SETD3 is a member of the SET (Su(var)3-9, Enhancer of zeste, and Trithorax) domain protein superfamily and plays important roles in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, muscle differentiation, and carcinogenesis. Previously, we identified SETD3 as the actin-specific methyltransferase that methylates the N3 of His73 on beta-actin (Kwiatkowski et al., 2018). Here, we present two structures of S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine-bound SETD3 in complex with either an unmodified beta-actin peptide or its His-methylated variant. Structural analyses, supported by biochemical experiments and enzyme activity assays, indicate that the recognition and methylation of beta-actin by SETD3 are highly sequence specific, and that both SETD3 and beta-actin adopt pronounced conformational changes upon binding to each other. In conclusion, this study is the first to show a catalytic mechanism of SETD3-mediated histidine methylation on beta-actin, which not only throws light on the protein histidine methylation phenomenon but also facilitates the design of small molecule inhibitors of SETD3.