A Switch for Transcriptional Activation and Repression: Histone Arginine Methylation

Abstract

Histones can be methylated on both lysine (K) and arginine (R) residues. Histone arginine methylation is a prevalent post-translational modification catalyzed by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). As an epigenetic modification, histone arginine methylation is associated with signal transduction, cell differentiation, cellular metabolism, tissue homeostasis, immune and inflammatory responses etc. Methylation at arginine residues alters the properties of the nucleosome to regulate gene transcription and the interaction between nucleosome and other regulatory proteins. Histone arginine methylation results in either transcriptional repression or activation. This review focuses on the biochemistry, regulatory mechanism, and the functional significance of histone arginine methylation.