Demystifying Histone Demethylases

Identification of a demethylation protein domain brings on a flood of enzyme discoveries.

Methylation of histone residues can have various consequences for genetic regulation, such as flagging transcriptional repression or activation. While there was some evidence that histones could also become unmethylated, no one knew what was responsible. Then in 2004, Yang Shi at Harvard Medical School and his colleagues identified the first histone demethylase, a protein called LSD1 that removes one or two methyl groups from histone 3 lysine 4.1

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