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. Dot1 is a histone methyltransferase that catalyzes methylation of histone H3 at lysine 79 (H3-K79) in mammalian cells. Intergenic H3-K79 mono-methylation is a mark of enhancer regions and may provide unique binding surfaces along the chromatin fiber to stabilize interactions between enhancers and their target promoters. H3-K79 diand tri-methylation is also a widespread histone modification and is associated with transcriptionally active genes. Increased H3-K79 methylation is found to be involved in some pathological processes such as leukemogenesis in human. The patterns of H3-K79 methylation can also be changed by inhibition or activation of HMTs. Thus quantitative detection of mono-, di- and tri-methyl histone H3-K79 would provide useful information for better understanding epigenetic regulation of gene activation and for developing HMT targeted drugs. The Pan-Methyl Histone H3-K79 Quantification Kit (Colorimetric) provides a tool for measuring mono, di- and tri-methylation of histone H3-K79