Biotinylation of histones represses transposable elements in human and mouse cells and cell lines and in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Transposable elements such as long terminal repeats (LTR) constitute approximately 45% of the human genome; transposition events impair genome stability. Fifty-four promoter-active retrotransposons have been identified in humans. Epigenetic mechanisms are important for transcriptional repression of retrotransposons, preventing transposition events, and abnormal regulation of genes. Here, we demonstrate that the covalent binding of the vitamin biotin to lysine-12 in histone H4 (H4K12bio) and lysine-9 in histone H2A (H2AK9bio), mediated by holocarboxylase synthetase (HCS), is an epigenetic mechanism to repress retrotransposon transcription in human and mouse cell lines and in primary cells from a human supplementation study. Abundance of H4K12bio and H2AK9bio at intact retrotransposons and a

SUBMITTER: Chew YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2678950 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature