Cell Signaling Technology

Product Pathways - Chromatin Regulation

Di-Methyl-Histone H4 (Lys20) Antibody #9759

Applications Reactivity Sensitivity MW (kDa) Source
W H M R Mk (Pg) (B) (Dm) (Z) (Hr) Endogenous 11 Rabbit

Applications Key:  W=Western Blotting
Reactivity Key:  H=Human  M=Mouse  R=Rat  Mk=Monkey  Pg=Pig  B=Bovine  Dm=D. melanogaster  Z=Zebrafish  Hr=Horse
Species cross-reactivity is determined by Western blot.

Protocols

Specificity / Sensitivity

Di-Methyl-Histone H4 (Lys20) Antibody detects endogenous levels of histone H4 only when di-methylated on Lys20. The antibody does not cross-react with non-, mono- or tri-methylated Lys20. In addition, the antibody does not cross-react with mono-, di- or tri-methylated histone H3 at Lys4, Lys9, Lys27 or Lys36.

Source / Purification

Polyclonal antibodies are produced by immunizing animals with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the amino terminus of histone H4 in which lysine 20 is di-methylated. Antibodies are purified by protein A and peptide affinity chromatography.

Western Blotting

Western Blotting

Western blot analysis of extracts from various cell lines using Di-Methyl-Histone H4 (Lys20) Antibody.

ELISA-Peptide

ELISA-Peptide

Di-Methyl-Histone H4 (Lys20) Antibody specificity was determined by peptide ELISA. The graph depicts the binding of the antibody to pre-coated di-methyl histone H4 (Lys20) peptide in the presence of increasing concentrations of various competitor peptides. As shown, only the di-methyl histone H4 (Lys20) peptide competed away binding of the antibody.

Background

The nucleosome, made up of four core histone proteins (H2A, H2B, H3 and H4), is the primary building block of chromatin. Originally thought to function as a static scaffold for DNA packaging, histones have now been shown to be dynamic proteins, undergoing multiple types of post-translational modifications, including acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation and ubiquitination (1). Histone methylation is a major determinant for the formation of active and inactive regions of the genome and is crucial for the proper programming of the genome during development (2,3). Arginine methylation of histones H3 (Arg2, 17, 26) and H4 (Arg3) promotes transcriptional activation and is mediated by a family of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs), including the co-activators PRMT1 and CARM1 (PRMT4) (4). In contrast, a more diverse set of histone lysine methyltransferases has been identified, all but one of which contain a conserved catalytic SET domain originally identified in the Drosophila Su(var)3-9, Enhancer of zeste and Trithorax proteins. Lysine methylation occurs primarily on histones H3 (Lys4, 9, 27, 36, 79) and H4 (Lys20) and has been implicated in both transcriptional activation and silencing (4). Methylation of these lysine residues coordinates the recruitment of chromatin modifying enzymes containing methyl-lysine binding modules such as chromodomains (HP1, PRC1), PHD fingers (BPTF, ING2), tudor domains (53BP1) and WD-40 domains (WDR5) (5-8). The recent discovery of histone demethylases such as PADI4, LSD1, JMJD1, JMJD2 and JHDM1 has shown that methylation is a reversible epigenetic mark (9).

  1. Peterson, C.L. and Laniel, M.A. (2004) Curr. Biol. 14, R546-R551.
  2. Kubicek, S. et al. (2006) Ernst Schering Res. Found Workshop, 1-27.
  3. Lin, W. and Dent, S.Y. (2006) Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 16, 137-142.
  4. Lee, D.Y. et al. (2005) Endocr. Rev. 26, 147-170.
  5. Daniel, J.A. et al. (2005) Cell Cycle 4, 919-926.
  6. Shi, X. et al. (2006) Nature 442, 96-99.
  7. Wysocka, J. et al. (2006) Nature 442, 86-90.
  8. Wysocka, J. et al. (2005) Cell 121, 859-872.
  9. Trojer, P. and Reinberg, D. (2006) Cell 125, 213-217.

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This product is intended for research purposes only. The product is not intended to be used for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes in humans or animals.

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