Regulation of the SUV39H Family Methyltransferases: Insights from Fission Yeast.

Histones, which make up nucleosomes, undergo various post-translational modifications, such as acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, and ubiquitylation. In particular, histone methylation serves different cellular functions depending on the location of the amino acid residue undergoing modification, and is tightly regulated by the antagonistic action of histone methyltransferases and demethylases. The SUV39H family of histone methyltransferases (HMTases) are evolutionarily conserved from fission yeast to humans and play an important role in the formation of higher-order chromatin structures called heterochromatin.

Multiple interfaces to recognize nucleosomal targets.

In eukaryotic cells, DNA is tightly compacted as chromatin. Chromatin states must be dynamically changed to increase the accessibility of transcription factors (TFs) to chromatin or to stably silence genes by higher-order chromatin structures known as heterochromatin. The regulation of chromatin needs cooperative action performed by a variety of proteins.