Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 20, 2025

Site Specific Lysine Acetylation of Histones for Nucleosome Reconstitution using Genetic Code Expansion in Escherichia coli
Published on: December 26, 2020
Genetically encoding ε-N-benzoyllysine in proteins
Yanli Ji1, Conghui Ren, Hui Miao
1State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. wxuan@nankai.edu.cn.
We genetically encoded benzoyl-lysine (BzK) into proteins, enabling histone modification and sirtuin debenzoylase activity analysis. This new method advances the study of post-translational modifications.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Epigenetics
Background:
- Lysine benzoylation is a recently identified post-translational modification (PTM).
- Histone modifications play crucial roles in gene regulation.
- Understanding PTMs requires tools for their specific incorporation and analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To genetically encode ε-N-benzoyl-lysine (BzK) into recombinant proteins.
- To apply BzK incorporation for histone modification.
- To enable the analysis of sirtuin debenzoylase activity.
Main Methods:
- Genetic encoding of BzK in *E. coli* and mammalian cells.
- Site-specific incorporation of BzK into proteins.
- Modification of histone proteins with BzK.
- Assay development for sirtuin debenzoylase activity.
Main Results:
- Successful genetic encoding and incorporation of BzK in both bacterial and mammalian systems.
- Demonstrated BzK modification of histone proteins.
- Established a method to analyze sirtuin debenzoylase activity on BzK-modified histones.
Conclusions:
- Genetic encoding of BzK provides a powerful tool for studying lysine benzoylation.
- This methodology facilitates research into histone modifications and epigenetic regulation.
- The developed system is applicable for analyzing enzymes involved in debenzoylation.
More Related Videos
11:08A Facile Protocol to Generate Site-Specifically Acetylated Proteins in Escherichia Coli
Published on: December 9, 2017
11:47Residue-specific Incorporation of Noncanonical Amino Acids into Model Proteins Using an Escherichia coli Cell-free Transcription-translation System
Published on: August 1, 2016
Related Concept Videos
From DNA to Protein
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally...
The Central Dogma
The Central Dogma
RNA is the Missing Link Between DNA and Proteins
In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...
Covalently Linked Protein Regulators
These groups modify specific amino acids in a protein....
Amino Acid Biosynthetic Pathways