| 1992 |
Deletions of residues 4-15 and acetylation-site substitutions at residues 9, 14, and 18 within the histone H3 N-terminal tail allow hyperactivation of the GAL1 promoter and other GAL4-regulated genes in yeast, establishing that the H3 N-terminus functions in repression of GAL gene expression distinct from the H4 N-terminus role. |
In vivo genetic mutagenesis (deletion and substitution mutants) with reporter gene expression analysis in yeast |
The EMBO journal |
High |
1505519
|
| 2004 |
The histone H3 N-terminal domain (not H4 N-terminal domain) is required for subtelomeric gene repression in yeast; mutating H3 lysine residues K4, K9, K14, K18, K23, and K27 collectively (but not individually) disrupts subtelomeric repression, indicating these lysines act redundantly to demarcate euchromatin from heterochromatin. |
Systematic N-terminal tail mutagenesis combined with genome-wide expression analysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae |
Genetics |
High |
15280228
|
| 2009 |
The H3 N-terminal tail is not required for Sir protein recruitment or spreading at telomeres and HM loci in yeast; instead, deletion of the H3 tail leads to increased chromatin accessibility (by dam methylase assay) and decreased mobility of heterochromatic fragments in sucrose gradients, indicating the H3 N-terminus is required for formation of higher-order silent chromatin structure after Sir proteins are recruited by the H4 tail. |
Genome-wide ChIP binding maps, ectopic dam methylase accessibility assay, sucrose gradient fractionation in yeast |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
High |
19666585
|
| 2017 |
JMJD5, a JmjC domain-containing protein, acts as a Cathepsin L-type protease that cleaves the histone H3 N-terminal tail exclusively at monomethyl-lysine (Kme1) residues in vitro; in vivo, K9 of H3 is the major cleavage site and H3.3 is the primary H3 target, with cleavage occurring under DNA damage stress at gene promoters repressed by JMJD5. |
In vitro H3 peptide digestion assay, in vivo protease activity under stress conditions, site-specific cleavage analysis |
EMBO reports |
High |
28982940
|
| 2014 |
The yeast vacuolar protease Prb1 is the principal protease responsible for clipping the histone H3 N-terminal tail in Saccharomyces cerevisiae; purified Prb1 cleaves H3 between Lys23 and Ala24 in vitro, and endopeptidase activity is lost in prb1Δ mutants. |
Biochemical fractionation, in vitro cleavage assay with purified Prb1, Edman degradation to identify cleavage site, PRB1 deletion mutant analysis |
PloS one |
High |
24587380
|
| 2007 |
T-box transcription factors (Tbx2, Tbx4, Tbx5, Tbx6) interact specifically with the histone H3 N-terminal tail; Tbx2 can recognize mitotic chromatin in a DNA-dependent manner and bind nucleosomal DNA, with nucleosome binding antagonized by the presence of histone tails; ectopic Tbx2 expression leads to mitotic defects. |
Pulldown/binding assays, in vitro nucleosome binding, co-localization by imaging, ectopic expression with mitotic phenotype readout |
Pigment cell research |
Medium |
17630961
|
| 2011 |
Aurora kinase B (AURKB) activity toward H3 is affected by modifications spanning R2 to K14, while Haspin kinase activity is significantly affected by modifications at R2 and K4; dimethylation at R2 and R8 abolishes AURKB-promoted phosphorylation at S10, and dimethylation at R2 abolishes Haspin-promoted phosphorylation at T3. |
In vitro kinase activity assays using histone H3 N-terminal peptides with defined modifications |
Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry |
Medium |
21397507
|
| 2014 |
Reptin/RUVBL2 and Pontin/RUVBL1 form stable complexes with nucleosomes, and their ATPase activity is modulated by acetylation and methylation of the histone H3 N-terminus; H3 tail peptides regulate the monomer-oligomer transition of Reptin/Pontin, with different oligomeric states pulling down distinct protein cofactors. |
Biochemical pulldown, ATPase activity assays with modified H3 peptides, monomer-oligomer transition analysis, in vivo ChIP at progesterone receptor gene promoter |
The Journal of biological chemistry |
Medium |
25336637
|
| 2016 |
Mutation of histone H3 K14 (H3K14R) specifically disrupts rDNA silencing without affecting the RENT complex recruitment to rDNA; instead, K14R mutation reduces the level of CAF-1 subunit Cac2 and delays replication-dependent nucleosome assembly, advancing replicative lifespan. |
Genetic mutagenesis in yeast, silencing assays, ChIP for RENT complex, CAF-1 level analysis, replicative aging assay |
Scientific reports |
Medium |
26906758
|
| 2019 |
MMP-9-dependent proteolysis of the histone H3 N-terminal tail during osteoclast differentiation is facilitated by H3K18 acetylation and H3K27 monomethylation; DNMT inhibition increases MMP-9 expression and H3NT proteolysis, while HDAC inhibition with TSA increases H3K27ac and reduces H3K27me1, impairing MMP-9-nucleosome interaction and H3NT proteolysis. |
Pharmacological inhibitor treatments, ChIP, qPCR, osteoclast differentiation assays, H3 cleavage biochemical assays |
Epigenetics & chromatin |
Medium |
30992059
|
| 2020 |
The H3 N-terminal tail physically interacts directly with the intrinsically disordered H1 C-terminal domain (CTD); deletion of the H3 N-tail or installation of acetylation mimics within it alters condensation of the nucleosome-bound H1 CTD through direct protein-protein interaction rather than alterations in linker DNA trajectory. |
FRET-based condensation measurements, H3 tail deletion and acetylation mimic constructs, protein-protein interaction analysis on reconstituted nucleosomes |
Nucleic acids research |
Medium |
33125082
|
| 2020 |
Single-molecule FRET revealed that H3 N-terminal tails do not diffuse freely but follow DNA motions with multiple interaction modes in the μs–ms timescale; the H3 N-tail can allosterically sense charge-modifying mutations in the histone core (H2A R81E/R88E), resulting in increased dynamic transitions and lower rate constants; H3 N-tail conformational changes coincide with DNA unwrapping steps during NaCl-induced nucleosome disassembly. |
High-precision single-molecule FRET on reconstituted mononucleosomes with systematic labeling position variation |
Nucleic acids research |
Medium |
31956896
|
| 2020 |
Human FACT complex (SPT16/SSRP1) induces asymmetric conformational exposure of histone H3 N-terminal tails during nucleosome unwrapping; the pAID-side H3 tail (near the pAID-DNA hybrid) is more solvent-exposed and undergoes faster acetylation than the DNA-side H3 tail, as revealed by NMR real-time monitoring. |
Cryo-EM structure of FACT-nucleosome intermediate, NMR dynamics and real-time acetylation monitoring on reconstituted nucleosomes |
iScience |
High |
33103079
|
| 2021 |
MMP-2 is the principal H3 N-terminal tail protease during skeletal myoblast differentiation, cleaving H3 between K18 and Q19; nuclear MMP-2 activity (not ECM MMP-2 activity) is required for H3NT proteolysis, myogenic gene activation, and myoblast differentiation, as demonstrated by RNAi depletion and supplementation experiments. |
Gelatin zymography, RNAi knockdown, ECM MMP-2 supplementation, H3 cleavage assay, myogenic differentiation assays in cell models |
Epigenetics & chromatin |
High |
34001241
|
| 2021 |
PHD finger-containing proteins recognize the H3 N-terminal tail through a conserved mechanism requiring: (1) removal of the initiator methionine, (2) a groove for arginine-2 binding, and (3) an aromatic cage for methylated lysine-4; non-histone proteins sharing H3 N-terminal mimicry (H3TMs) can bind H3K4me3-interacting PHD domains, with VRK1 peptide binding PHF2 PHD ~3-fold stronger than H3K4me3. |
Protein domain microarray screening, crystal structure of PHF2 PHD bound to VRK1 K4me3 peptide, binding affinity measurements |
The Biochemical journal |
High |
33969871
|
| 2021 |
Histone H3 N-terminal tails undergo extensive proteolytic cleavage by Trypsins and Cathepsin L in differentiated cells of the mouse intestinal villus epithelium in vivo; the PTM pattern on H3 tails differentially affects proteolytic activity of these enzymes; H3 clipping is linked to intestinal cell differentiation. |
Biochemical fractionation, 3D organoid cultures, in vivo mouse intestinal tissue analysis, protease identification and activity assays |
Nucleic acids research |
High |
33398338
|
| 2022 |
In the nucleosome core particle (NCP) without linker DNA, H3 N-tail acetylation and dynamics are greatly suppressed because the H3 N-tail is strongly bound between two DNA gyres; in the chromatosome (with linker histone H1.4), the H3 N-tail adopts two conformations—one contacting two DNA gyres and one contacting linker DNA—but acetylation rates are similar to the nucleosome. H4 N-tail acetylation enhances H3 N-tail acetylation in nucleosomes by altering their mutual dynamics. |
NMR analysis of H3 N-tail dynamics and acetylation in NCP, nucleosome, and chromatosome reconstituted particles |
iScience |
High |
35265811
|
| 2024 |
Cancer-associated histone H3 N-terminal arginine mutations (H3R2C and H3R26C) reduce H3K27me3 levels exclusively on the mutant histone fraction yet recurrently disrupt broad H3K27me3 domains in chromatin, disrupting PRC2 activity and leading to de-repression of differentiation pathways and impaired differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells. |
Cell-based expression of H3 mutants, ChIP-seq for H3K27me3, murine embryonic stem cell-derived teratoma differentiation assays, genomic analysis of cancer mutations |
Nature communications |
High |
38886411
|
| 2024 |
MMP-9 mediates H3 N-terminal tail proteolysis in colon cancer cells to drive transcriptional activation of growth stimulatory genes; artificial H3NT proteolysis at target gene promoters using dCas9-MMP-9 fusion is sufficient to establish transcriptional competence, confirming that H3NT proteolysis per se (not other MMP-9 functions) is the critical epigenetic step. |
MMP-9 knockdown/inhibition, ChIP/ChIPac-qPCR, CRISPR/dCas9-MMP-9 targeting, genome-wide transcriptome analysis, in vivo xenograft models |
Molecular oncology |
High |
38600695
|
| 2025 |
PHRF1 PHD finger robustly binds to the histone H3 N-terminal region; a cancer-associated mutation P221L in the PHRF1 PHD finger abolishes H3 interaction and fails to rescue defective DNA damage response (DDR) in PHRF1 knockout cells, establishing that PHRF1-H3 N-tail interaction is required for proper DDR. |
Biochemical binding assays, mutagenesis of PHRF1 PHD finger, PHRF1 knockout complementation, RNA-seq and proteomic analysis, DDR functional assays |
Nucleic acids research |
High |
40671529
|
| 2025 |
HDAC1 possesses intrinsic protease activity capable of cleaving histone H3 between lysine 20 and alanine 21; this H3NT protease activity requires stable HDAC1 association with nucleosomes and is necessary for transcriptional activation of growth stimulatory genes in bladder cancer cells; artificial tethering of HDAC1 to target genes via CRISPR-dCas9 is sufficient to induce H3NT proteolysis and activate transcription. |
In vitro and cellular H3 cleavage assays, HDAC1 knockdown, CRISPR-dCas9 tethering, cancer cell proliferation assays |
Cell death and differentiation |
High |
41286098
|
| 2023 |
MMP-2 H3NT protease is selectively localized to transcription start sites (TSSs) of highly expressed protein-coding genes at the +1 nucleosome genome-wide; MMP-2-dependent H3NT proteolysis at TSSs results in >2-fold reduction of H3K4me3, H3K9ac, and H3K18ac; MMP-2-mediated H3NT proteolysis activates CTSB, which functions as a secondary nuclear H3NT protease generating additional cleaved H3 products. |
ChIP-seq for MMP-2 genome-wide localization, H3 cleavage assays, histone PTM analysis by ChIP-qPCR |
Epigenetics & chromatin |
High |
37161413
|
| 2025 |
Histone H3 threonine 3 (H3T3) phosphorylation is required for meiotic division in yeast; H3T3A substitution reduces sporulation efficiency and spore viability; deletion of MAD2 (spindle checkpoint gene) in the H3T3A mutant severely reduces spore viability, indicating the spindle checkpoint monitors H3T3-dependent functions during meiosis. |
Yeast genetic mutagenesis (T3A, K4A, S10A substitutions), sporulation efficiency and spore viability quantification, MAD2 deletion epistasis |
Biomolecules |
Medium |
40867646
|