Apologies to Hamlet

Apologies to Shakespeare and Hamlet.  Serotonin does “more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  How about chemically modifying histones?We all know about serotonin and depression (or at least we think we know).  Block serotonin reuptake by the releasing neuron and bingo you’ve  cured depression (sometimes).  Do not ask the lecturer which of the 15 known serotonin receptors in the brain the increased serotonin actually binds to and what effects the increased levels produce after binding (and which are important for the alleviation of depression).The two body organs producing the most serotonin are the brain and the gut.  Chemical modification of proteins by serotonin has been known for 10 years.  The enzyme responsible is transglutaminase2, it takes the NH2 group of serotonin and replaces the NH2 of glutamine with it — forming an isopeptide bond.

Interestingly, the serotonylation of histones is quite specific.  Only glutamine #5 on histone H3 is modified this way.  For the reaction to occur lysine #4 on histone H3 must be trimethylated (H3K4Me3) — now you can begin to see the combinatorial possibilities of the various histone modifications known.  Over 130 post-ranslational modifications of histones were known by 2013 [ Cell vol. 155 p. 42 ’13 ].

The H3K4Me3Q5Ser is enriched in euchromatin and correlates with permissive gene expression.  Changing glutamine #5 to something else so it can’t be serotonylated changes the transcription pattern, and deficits in cellular differentiation.  You can read more about it in Nature vol. 567 pp. 464 – 465, 535 – 539 ’19 ]