SET DOMAIN GROUP2 is the major histone H3 lysine 4 trimethyltransferase in Arabidopsis

Oct 13, 2010Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

SET DOMAIN GROUP2 mainly adds a specific chemical mark to histone H3 in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Loss of the SDG2 protein results in a drastic decrease in H3K4me3 levels in Arabidopsis.

More than two thirds of Arabidopsis genes contain histone H3 methylation at lysine 4 (H3K4me).
Trimethylation of H3K4 (H3K4me3) is preferentially associated with actively transcribed genes.
Arabidopsis mutants lacking H3K4me display various developmental abnormalities.
SDG2 is characterized as a robust and specific methyltransferase for H3K4 in vitro.
The loss of SDG2 leads to severe developmental phenotypes and misregulation of numerous genes.
SDG2 homologs are highly conserved across plants and are broadly expressed during development.

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Posttranslational modifications of histones play important roles in modulating chromatin structure and regulating gene expression. We have previously shown that more than two thirds of Arabidopsis genes contain histone H3 methylation at lysine 4 (H3K4me) and that trimethylation of H3K4 (H3K4me3) is preferentially located at actively transcribed genes. In addition, several Arabidopsis mutants with locus-specific loss of H3K4me have been found to display various developmental abnormalities. These findings suggest that H3K4me3 may play important roles in maintaining the normal expression of a large number of genes. However, the major enzyme(s) responsible for H3K4me3 has yet to be identified in plants, making it difficult to address questions regarding the mechanisms and functions of H3K4me3. Here we described the characterization of SET DOMAIN GROUP 2 (SDG2), a large Arabidopsis protein containing a histone lysine methyltransferase domain. We found that SDG2 homologs are highly conserved in plants and that the Arabidopsis SDG2 gene is broadly expressed during development. In addition, the loss of SDG2 leads to severe and pleiotropic phenotypes, as well as the misregulation of a large number of genes. Consistent with our finding that SDG2 is a robust and specific H3K4 methyltransferase in vitro, the loss of SDG2 leads to a drastic decrease in H3K4me3 in vivo. Taken together, these results suggest that SDG2 is the major enzyme responsible for H3K4me3 in Arabidopsis and that SDG2-dependent H3K4m3 is critical for regulating gene expression and plant development.

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SET DOMAIN GROUP2 is the major histone H3 lysine 4 trimethyltransferase in Arabidopsis

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