Table 3. Histone methylation contributes to pathways that drive aging.
Recent work in yeast and cultured mammalian cells that implicates changes in histone methylation in cellular processes that drive aging are summarized.
| Pathway | Modification | Change | Enzyme | Effect | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autophagy | H3K9me3 | decrease | G9a, GLP | increase transcription of genes involved in autophagy | [69] |
| DDR | H4K20me2 | increase | MMSET | recruit 53BP to DNA lesions | [80] |
| H3K79me2 | increase | Dot-1 | recruit 53BP to DNA lesions | [77–79] | |
| H3K9me3 | increase | enhance Tip60 activity, which activates ATM | [85] | ||
| H3K4me3 | increase | Set-1 | [89] | ||
| H3K4me3 | increase | recruit tumor suppressor ING | [90] | ||
| H3K27me3 | increase | EZH2 | repress transcription near DNA lesions | [84] | |
| Stress response | H3K4me3 | Set-1 | repress ribosome protein and biogenesis genes | [96] | |
| H3K36me3 | decrease | Rph-1 | activate stress response genes | [97] | |
| H3K36me3 | decrease | Rph-1 | repress sub-telomeric gene expression during ROS-induced hormesis | [99] |
*
indicates that this occurs in yeast, and also in human cells during growth phases of the cell cycle. DDR, DNA damage response.