Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
1: Nat Genet. 2008 Jul;40(7):897-903. Epub 2008 Jun 15.
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read Click here to read
Combinatorial patterns of histone acetylations and methylations in the human genome.

Wang Z, Zang C, Rosenfeld JA, Schones DE, Barski A, Cuddapah S, Cui K, Roh TY, Peng W, Zhang MQ, Zhao K.

Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

Histones are characterized by numerous posttranslational modifications that influence gene transcription. However, because of the lack of global distribution data in higher eukaryotic systems, the extent to which gene-specific combinatorial patterns of histone modifications exist remains to be determined. Here, we report the patterns derived from the analysis of 39 histone modifications in human CD4(+) T cells. Our data indicate that a large number of patterns are associated with promoters and enhancers. In particular, we identify a common modification module consisting of 17 modifications detected at 3,286 promoters. These modifications tend to colocalize in the genome and correlate with each other at an individual nucleosome level. Genes associated with this module tend to have higher expression, and addition of more modifications to this module is associated with further increased expression. Our data suggest that these histone modifications may act cooperatively to prepare chromatin for transcriptional activation.

Publication Types:
PMID: 18552846 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]