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PMID: 21321607 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Review

Regulation of chromatin by histone modifications.

Cell research ·Vol. 21 ·No. 3 ·2011-03-00 ·Pages 381-95

Bannister AJ, Kouzarides T

Abstract

Chromatin is not an inert structure, but rather an instructive DNA scaffold that can respond to external cues to regulate the many uses of DNA. A principle component of chromatin that plays a key role in this regulation is the modification of histones. There is an ever-growing list of these modifications and the complexity of their action is only just beginning to be understood. However, it is clear that histone modifications play fundamental roles in most biological processes that are involved in the manipulation and expression of DNA. Here, we describe the known histone modifications, define where they are found genomically and discuss some of their functional consequences, concentrating mostly on transcription where the majority of characterisation has taken place.

MeSH Terms
Chromatin/metabolism Heterochromatin/chemistry Histone Demethylases/metabolism Histones/metabolism Protein Processing, Post-Translational
Chemicals
Chromatin Heterochromatin Histones Histone Demethylases
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Bannister Andrew J
The Gurdon Institute and Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK.
Kouzarides Tony
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Article Info
Journal
Cell research
Abbr.
Cell Res
ISSN
1748-7838
DOI
10.1038/cr.2011.22
Published
2011-03-00
Epub
2011-00-15
Pages
381-95
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
9425763
PMCID
PMC3193420
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/cr.2011.22 PMC Full Text View journal details
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