Histone acetylation facilitates association of nucleosomes with SET domain of ALL-1 methyltransferase in vitro.

The inheritable methylation pattern of gene activity, created upon cell differentiation, is further maintained by the "SET" (methyltransferase)-domain proteins. However, it is still not clear how SET-proteins can decide on the required gene activity state and the way their chromatin association is maintained. Here we have found that high levels of histone acetylation--the hallmarks of active chromosome regions in vivo--can increase the affinity of reconstituted nucleosomes to the SET domain of ALL-1 histone methyltransferase in a defined system in vitro. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.