Investigating d-lysine stereochemistry for epigenetic methylation, demethylation and recognition

Abstract

Histone lysine methylation is regulated by Nϵ-methyltransferases, demethylases, and Nϵ-methyl lysine binding proteins. Thermodynamic, catalytic and computational studies were carried out to investigate the interaction of three epigenetic protein classes with synthetic histone substrates containing l- and d-lysine residues. The results reveal that out of the three classes, Nϵ-methyl lysine binding proteins are superior in accepting lysines with the d-configuration.