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Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2008, p. 1041-1046, Vol. 28, No. 3
0270-7306/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.01504-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Drosophila UTX Is a Histone H3 Lys27 Demethylase That Colocalizes with the Elongating Form of RNA Polymerase II
Edwin R. Smith,1
Min Gyu Lee,2
Benjamin Winter,1
Nathan M. Droz,1
Joel C. Eissenberg,3
Ramin Shiekhattar,2,4 and
Ali Shilatifard1*
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 East 50th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64110,1
The Wistar Institute, 3601 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104,2
Edward A. Doisy Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1402 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis, Missouri 63104,3
Centre de Regulacio Genomica Dr. Aiguader, 88 08003 Barcelona, Spain4
Received 18 August 2007/
Returned for modification 15 October 2007/
Accepted 5 November 2007
Histone H3 methylation at Lys27 (H3K27 methylation) is a hallmark of silent chromatin, while H3K4 methylation is associated with active chromatin regions. Here we report that a Drosophila JmjC family member, dUTX, specifically demethylates di- and trimethylated but not monomethylated H3K27. dUTX localization on chromatin correlates with the elongating form of RNA polymerase II (Pol II), and dUTX can associate with Pol II. Furthermore, heat shock induction results in the recruitment of dUTX to the hsp70 gene, like that of several other Pol II elongation factors. Our data indicate that dUTX is intimately associated with actively transcribed genes and may provide a paradigm for how H3K27 demethylation is required for the activation of preinitiated Pol II on transcriptionally poised genes.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 East 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110. Phone: (816) 926-4465. Fax: (816) 926-2080. E-mail:
ASH{at}Stowers-Institute.org
Published ahead of print on 26 November 2007.
Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2008, p. 1041-1046, Vol. 28, No. 3
0270-7306/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.01504-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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