MBD2
Description
The MBD2 (methyl-CpG binding domain protein 2) is a protein-coding gene located on chromosome 18.
Methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MBD2 gene. DNA methylation is the major modification of eukaryotic genomes and plays an essential role in mammalian development. Human proteins MECP2, MBD1, MBD2, MBD3, and MBD4 comprise a family of nuclear proteins related by the presence in each of a methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD). Each of these proteins, with the exception of MBD3, is capable of binding specifically to methylated DNA. MECP2, MBD1, and MBD2 can also repress transcription from methylated gene promoters. The protein encoded by these genes may function as a mediator of the biological consequences of the methylation signal. It is also reported that MBD2 and MBD3 recruit the NuRD complex to regions of DNA depending on their selective binding of methylated CpG sites. Therefore, MBD2/NuRD and MBD3/NuRD define two distinct protein complexes with different biochemical and functional properties.
MBD2 binds to CpG islands in promoters where DNA is methylated at position 5 of cytosine within CpG dinucleotides. It also binds to hemimethylated DNA. MBD2 recruits histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases to chromatin, and is a component of the NuRD complex which remodels chromatin. It acts as a transcriptional repressor and participates in gene silencing. As a scaffold protein, MBD2 targets GATAD2A and GATAD2B to chromatin to promote repression. MBD2 can enhance the activation of some unmethylated cAMP-responsive promoters.
MBD2 is also known as DMTase, NY-CO-41.
