AUTHOR=Di Nisio Elena , Lupo Giuseppe , Licursi Valerio , Negri Rodolfo TITLE=The Role of Histone Lysine Methylation in the Response of Mammalian Cells to Ionizing Radiation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2021.639602 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2021.639602 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=

Eukaryotic genomes are wrapped around nucleosomes and organized into different levels of chromatin structure. Chromatin organization has a crucial role in regulating all cellular processes involving DNA-protein interactions, such as DNA transcription, replication, recombination and repair. Histone post-translational modifications (HPTMs) have a prominent role in chromatin regulation, acting as a sophisticated molecular code, which is interpreted by HPTM-specific effectors. Here, we review the role of histone lysine methylation changes in regulating the response to radiation-induced genotoxic damage in mammalian cells. We also discuss the role of histone methyltransferases (HMTs) and histone demethylases (HDMs) and the effects of the modulation of their expression and/or the pharmacological inhibition of their activity on the radio-sensitivity of different cell lines. Finally, we provide a bioinformatic analysis of published datasets showing how the mRNA levels of known HMTs and HDMs are modulated in different cell lines by exposure to different irradiation conditions.