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 chromatin-dependent transcription repression or activation. HMTs transfer 1-3 methyl groups from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the lysine and arginine residues of histone proteins. ESET, G9a, SUV39-h1, SUV39- h2, SETDB1, Dim-5 and Eu-HMTase are histone methyltransferases that catalyze methylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3-K9) in mammalian cells. H3-K9 dimethylation mediates heterochromatin formation by forming a binding site for HP1 and also participates in silencing gene expression at euchromatic sites. Increased H3-K9 methylation is also found to be involved in some pathological processes such as cancer progression. The H3-K9 di-methylation can also be changed by inhibition or activation of HMTs. Thus quantitative detection of di-methyl histone H3-K9 would provide useful information for better understanding epigenetic regulation of gene activation/silencing and for developing HMT-targeted drugs. The Di-Methyl Histone H3-K9 Quantification Kit (Colorimetric) provides a tool for measuring dimethylation of histone H3-K9