Histones are subject to a wide variety of post-translational modifications that play a central
role in gene activation and silencing. We have used histone modification-specific antibodies
to demonstrate that two histone modifications involved in gene activation, histone H3
acetylation and H3 lysine 4 methylation, are functionally linked. This interaction, in which the
extent of histone H3 acetylation determines both the abundance and the" degree" of H3K4
methylation, plays a major role in the epigenetic response to histone deacetylase inhibitors …