title: Histone H3 lysine 4 methylation patterns in higher eukaryotic genes.
abstract: Lysine residues within histones can be mono-, di - or tri-methylated. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae tri-methylation of Lys 4 of histone H3 (K4/H3) correlates with transcriptional activity, but little is known about this methylation state in higher eukaryotes. Here, we examine the K4/H3 methylation pattern at the promoter and transcribed region of metazoan genes. We analysed chicken genes that are developmentally regulated, constitutively active or inactive. We found that the pattern of K4/H3 methylation shows similarities to S. cerevisiae. Tri-methyl K4/H3 peaks in the 5' transcribed region and active genes can be discriminated by high levels of tri-methyl K4/H3 compared with inactive genes. However, our results also identify clear differences compared to yeast, as significant levels of K4/H3 methylation are present on inactive genes within the beta-globin locus, implicating this modification in maintaining a 'poised' chromatin state. In addition, K4/H3 di-methylation is not genome-wide and di-methylation is not uniformly distributed throughout the transcribed region. These results indicate that in metazoa, di- and tri-methylation of K4/H3 is linked to active transcription and that significant differences exist in the genome-wide methylation pattern as compared with S. cerevisiae.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome/CR UK Institute and Department of Pathology, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QR, UK.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bannister
authors.forename: Fiona A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Alan W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Thorne
authors.forename: Colyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crane-Robinson
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kouzarides
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D008239:Lysine / Q000378:metabolism*; D008745:Methylation; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006657:Histones; D005914:Globins; D008239:Lysine