Genomic Glimpse of the Chromatin Modifier SET Domain family in Plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

Histones N-terminal tails are the sites for Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs) that regulate the chromatin structure, thus chromatin associated processes. PTMs include methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, sumoylation, and ribosylation. Histone lysine methylation is associated with both transcription activation and repression. The SET domain proteins carry out the histone lysine methylation on the N-terminal tails of histones H3 and H4 and are called Histone Lysine Methyltransferases (HKMTs). A total of ten SET domain genes have been identified in human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The present study provides detailed computational analysis of P. falciparum SET domain proteins (PfSETs). The analyses cover PfSET family in terms of domain composition, physiochemical properties, subcellular localization, expression profiling and phylogenetic relationships. The work also highlights the conservation of important catalytic residues in PfSETs. The present study provides a detailed insight into the PfSET family, thus opens a platform for further developments.