Euchromatic Histone Lysine-N-Methyltransferase 1 (EHMT1)

EHMT1 is a histone methyltransferase that is part of the E2F6 complex, which represses transcription. The encoded protein methylates the Lys-9 position of histone H3, which tags it for transcriptional repression. This protein may be involved in the silencing of MYC- and E2F-responsive genes and therefore could play a role in the G0/G1 cell cycle transition.The 1,267-amino acid EU-HMTase-1 protein contains ankyrin repeats and a SET domain. EU-HMTase-1 shares 63% sequence similarity with NG36/G9A. EU-HMTase-1 exhibited histone methyltransferase activity with a specificity for histone H3 in core histones, whereas it hardly methylated nucleosomes, suggesting that other subunits in the E2F6 complex are required for modification of nucleosomal substrates.