TY - JOUR
T1 - Histone demethylation by a family of JmjC domain-containing proteins
AU - Tsukada, Yu Ichi
AU - Fang, Jia
AU - Erdjument-Bromage, Hediye
AU - Warren, Maria E.
AU - Borchers, Christoph H.
AU - Tempst, Paul
AU - Zhang, Yi
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements We thank L. Lacomis and G. Boysen for help with mass spectrometry; B. Strahl, T. Jenuwein, Y. Shinkai and A. Verreault for reagents; R. Cao for the EZH2 complex; and R. Klose for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH grants to Y.Z., P.T. and C.H.B. Y.Z. is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
PY - 2006/2/16
Y1 - 2006/2/16
N2 - Covalent modification of histones has an important role in regulating chromatin dynamics and transcription. Whereas most covalent histone modifications are reversible, until recently it was unknown whether methyl groups could be actively removed from histones. Using a biochemical assay coupled with chromatography, we have purified a novel JmjC domain-containing protein, JHDM1 (JmjC domain-containing histone demethylase 1), that specifically demethylates histone H3 at lysine 36 (H3-K36). In the presence of Fe(II) and α-ketoglutarate, JHDM1 demethylates H3-methyl-K36 and generates formaldehyde and succinate. Overexpression of JHDM1 reduced the level of dimethyl-H3-K36 (H3K36me2) in vivo. The demethylase activity of the JmjC domain-containing proteins is conserved, as a JHDM1 homologue in Saccharomyces cerevisiae also has H3-K36 demethylase activity. Thus, we identify the JmjC domain as a novel demethylase signature motif and uncover a protein demethylation mechanism that is conserved from yeast to human.
AB - Covalent modification of histones has an important role in regulating chromatin dynamics and transcription. Whereas most covalent histone modifications are reversible, until recently it was unknown whether methyl groups could be actively removed from histones. Using a biochemical assay coupled with chromatography, we have purified a novel JmjC domain-containing protein, JHDM1 (JmjC domain-containing histone demethylase 1), that specifically demethylates histone H3 at lysine 36 (H3-K36). In the presence of Fe(II) and α-ketoglutarate, JHDM1 demethylates H3-methyl-K36 and generates formaldehyde and succinate. Overexpression of JHDM1 reduced the level of dimethyl-H3-K36 (H3K36me2) in vivo. The demethylase activity of the JmjC domain-containing proteins is conserved, as a JHDM1 homologue in Saccharomyces cerevisiae also has H3-K36 demethylase activity. Thus, we identify the JmjC domain as a novel demethylase signature motif and uncover a protein demethylation mechanism that is conserved from yeast to human.
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U2 - 10.1038/nature04433
DO - 10.1038/nature04433
M3 - Article
C2 - 16362057
AN - SCOPUS:32844454603
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 439
SP - 811
EP - 816
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7078
ER -