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. G9a and polycomb group enzymes such as EZH2 are histone methyltransferases that catalyze methylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3-K27) in mammalian cells. Tri-methylation of H3-K27 is a facultative heterochromatin mark which promotes the recruitment of polycomb group proteins for gene silencing. Increased H3-K27 tri-methylation is found to be involved in some pathological processes such as cancer progression. The H3-K27 tri-methylation can be also changed by inhibition or activation of HMTs. Thus quantitative detection of tri-methyl histone H3- K27 would provide useful information for better understanding epigenetic regulation of gene activation/repression and for developing HMT-targeted drugs. The Tri-Methyl Histone H3-K27 Quantification Kit (Colorimetric) provides a tool for measuring tri-methylation of histone H3-K27