Histone H3 globular domain acetylation identifies a new class of enhancers

Histone acetylation is generally associated with active chromatin, but most studies have focused on the acetylation of histone tails. Various histone H3 and H4 tail acetylations mark the promoters of active genes1. This includes acetylation of H3 on lysine 27 (H3K27ac), which blocks the deposition of polycomb mediated H3K27me32. H3K27ac is also widely used to identify active enhancers3,4, and the assumption has been that profiling of H3K27ac is a comprehensive way of cataloguing the set of active enhancers in mammalian cell types. Here we show that acetylation of lysine residues in the globular domain of H3 (H3K64ac and H3K122ac) marks active gene promoters and also a subset of active enhancers. Moreover, we find a novel class of active functional enhancers that are marked by H3K122ac but lack H3K27ac. This work suggests that, to identify enhancers, a more comprehensive analysis of histone acetylation is required than was previously considered.