Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 2010 Oct;45(5):440-52. doi: 10.3109/10409238.2010.504700.
The molecular biology of histone H4 lysine 20 (H4K20) methylation, like many other post-translational modifications of histones, has been the subject of intensive interest in recent years. While there is an emerging consensus linking H4K20me1, H4K20me2, and H4K20me3 to transcription, repair, and constitutive heterochromatin, respectively, the specific details of these associations and the biological mechanisms by which the methylated histones are introduced and function are now the subject of active investigation. Although a large number of methylases capable of methylating H4K20 have been identified and characterized; there is no known demethylase of H4K20, though the search is ongoing. Additionally, many recent studies have been directed at understanding the role of methylated H4K20 and other histone modifications associated with different biological processes in the context of a combinatorial histone code. It seems likely that continued study of the methylation of H4K20 will yield extremely valuable insights concerning the regulation of histone modifications before and during cell division and the impact of these modifications on subsequent gene expression.
组蛋白 H4 赖氨酸 20（H4K20）甲基化的分子生物学，像许多其他组蛋白的翻译后修饰一样，近年来一直是人们关注的焦点。尽管 H4K20me1、H4K20me2 和 H4K20me3 分别与转录、修复和组成型异染色质相关的共识正在出现，但这些关联的具体细节以及引入和发挥甲基化组蛋白的生物学机制，目前仍在积极研究中。尽管已经鉴定和表征了许多能够甲基化 H4K20 的甲基转移酶，但目前还没有已知的 H4K20 去甲基酶，尽管仍在寻找中。此外，许多最近的研究都致力于理解在组合组蛋白密码子的背景下，与不同生物学过程相关的甲基化 H4K20 和其他组蛋白修饰的作用。看来，对 H4K20 甲基化的持续研究将为细胞分裂前后组蛋白修饰的调节以及这些修饰对随后基因表达的影响提供极其有价值的见解。
