Is there a telltale RH fingerprint in zinc fingers that recognizes methylated CpG dinucleotides?

摘要

Liu et al. have recently suggested that a telltale arginine–histidine (RH) motif in classical C2H2 zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) (Box 1) provides specificity for methylated CpG elements [1]. They pointed out that this motif is found in a high proportion of human ZFPs and that RH-containing proteins might be sensitive to CpG methylation or to related DNA modifications such as hydroxymethyl CpG. Reading this paper, readers might therefore consider this a signature motif indicative of regulatory proteins that recognize such covalent modifications.