ALKBH7, a mitochondrial member of AlkB family, binds histones in vitro, part 1

Human genome encodes 9 AlkB family members, one of which is ALKBH7. In this study, we found recombinant ALKBH7 could bind bulk histones in GST pull-down and attenuate the signal of H4K20me2 in demethylation assays. With mass spectrometry, we also identified several potential ALKBH7-interacting proteins, such as NDUFS2, MRPS7 etc.; and found the expression of NDUFA4 and COX6C was down-regulated upon knockdown of ALKBH7. With these results, we can obtain a novel sight into the function of this protein.