DEAE-Sepharose chromatography of extracts from Zea mays meristematic cells revealed multiple histone acetyltransferase and histone deacetylase enzyme forms. An improved method for nuclear isolation allowed us to discriminate nuclear and cytoplasmic enzymes. Two nuclear histone acetyltransferases, A1 and A2, a cytoplasmic B-enzyme and two nuclear histone deacetylases, HD1 and HD2, have been iden...

Extensive studies in the past few years have begun to demonstrate that chromosome structure plays a critical role in transcriptional regulation. Two highly conserved mechanisms for altering chromosome structure have been identified: 1) post-translational modification of histones and 2) adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent chromosome remodeling. Acetylation of histone lysine residues has been ...

The histone methyl transferase Suv39H1 is involved in silencing by pericentric heterochromatin. It specifically methylates K9 of histone H3, thereby creating a high affinity binding site for HP1 proteins. We and others have shown recently that it is also involved in transcriptional repression by the retinoblastoma protein Rb. Strikingly, both HP1 localisation and repression by Rb also require, ...

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are involved in the regulation of transcription and their inhibitors are a promising class of new anticancer drugs. We have previously reported Boc(Ac)Lys-AMC, also termed MAL, as a fluorescent substrate for HDACs. Now we present a modification of MAL called Z-MAL that is characterized by an increased rate of conversion by histone deacetylases of classes I and II an...

Post translational modifications of histones play a significant role in regulation of physiological and pathological processes in the body. Acetylation is one of the most important chromatin modifying mechanisms being controlled by histone acetyl transferases and histone deacetylases. The histone deacetylases (HDAC) are basically responsible for silencing of gene transcription. Cancer involves ...

Histone deacetylases are set of enzymes that have been of interest in drug discovery for the last more than 3 decades. They are responsible for cleaving of acetyl groups from acetyl-lysine residues in histones and various non-histone proteins. Histone deacetylase inhibition is a contemporary, clinically validated therapeutic tactic for cancer treatment. Hydroxamic acid derivatives are among the...