The role of holocarboxylase synthetase in genome stability is mediated partly by epigenomic synergies between methylation and biotinylation events

Abstract

Holocarboxylase synthetase (HLCS) -catalyzes the covalent binding of biotin to histones. Biotinylated histones are gene repression marks and are particularly enriched in long terminal repeats, telomeres and other repeat regions. The effects of HLCS in gene regulation are mediated by its physical interactions with chromatin proteins such as histone H3, DNMT1, MeCP2 and EHMT-1. It appears that histone biotinylation depends on prior methylation of cytosines. De-repression of long terminal repeats in biotin- or HLCS-deficient cell cultures and organisms is associated with genome instability. © 2011 Landes Bioscience.