Description
Epigenetic activation or inactivation of genes plays a critical role in many important human diseases, especially in cancer. A major mechanism for epigenetic inactivation of the genes is methylation of CpG islands in genome DNA caused by DNA methyltransferases. Histone methyltransferases (HMTs) control or regulate DNA methylation through chromatindependent transcriptional repression or activation. HMTs transfer 1-3 methyl groups from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the lysine and arginine residues of histone proteins. PR-SET7, SET9, SUV4.20h, and ASH1 are histone methyltransferases that catalyze methylation of histone H4 at lysine 20 (H4K20) in mammalian cells. H4K20 mono-methylation is involved in the maintenance of proper higher order structure of DNA and is consequently essential for chromosome condensation, as well as functioning in gene silencing. H4K20 dimethylation has been described as another repressive chromatin domains and is involved in the DNA damage response. H4K20 tri-methylation acts as a passive feature or structure determinant for chromatin degradation and release, as well as being an epigenetic marker of early apoptosis. Tri-methylation of H4K20 is also considered to be a common hallmark of human cancer. The H4K20 methylation can change by inhibition or activation of HMTs. Thus, quantitative detection of methyl histone H4K20 would provide useful information for better understanding epigenetic regulation of gene activation/ repression, and for developing HMT-targeted drugs. Pan-Methyl Histone H4K20 Quantification Kit (Colorimetric) provides a tool for measuring mono-, di-, and tri-methylation of histone H4K20