Histone Methylation: HMT-Demethylase Pairs

Histone methylation is performed by histone methyltransferases (HMT) and reversed by demethylases.
In the following table, histone methyl transferases and demethylases are listed by histone modification site. The histone modification entries are linked to antibodies for detection of that site of methylation, the enzymes names are linked to several kind of products (antibodies, enzymes and assay kits):

Histone Modification	HMT	Demethylase
H3K4	MLL, SET7/9, SMYD3	LSD1, JARID1A, JARID1B, JARID1C, JARID1D, JHDM1B
H3K9	SUV39H1,2, G9a, EHMT1	LSD1, JMJD2A, JMJD2B, JMJD2C, JMJD2D, JMJD2E
H3K27	EZH1, EZH2	UTX, JMJD3
H3K36	NSD1, SET2, SMYD2, SMYD3	JMJD2A, JMJD2B, JMJD2C, JMJD2D, JMJD2E, JHDM1A, JHDM1B
H3K79	Dot1L	?
H3R	PRMT1, PRMT3, PRMT5, PRMT6, PRMT7, CARM/PRMT4	PAD1, PAD2, PAD3, PAD4, JMJD6
H4K20	SET8, SUV39H1,2	PHF8

Histone methylation is in general associated with transcriptional repression, however, methylation of some lysine and arginine residues of histones results in transcriptional activation.

Two histone modifications are particularly associated with active transcription:

Trimethylation of H3 lysine 4 (H3K4Me3) at the promotor of active genes
Trimethylation of H3 lysine 36 (H3K36Me3) in the body of active genes

Three histone modifications are particularly associated with repressed genes:

Trimethylation of H3 lysine 27 (H3K27Me3)
Di and tri-methylation of H3 lysine 9 (H3K9Me2/3)
Trimethylation of H4 lysine 20 (H4K20Me3)

In embryonic stem cels promorors are found that contain activating and repressing methylations (H3K4Me3 and H3K27Me3). After differentiation of these cells they are resolved to either active or repressive states depending on the chosen lineage.

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