Three types of arginine methylation exist in mammalian cells: monomethylarginine (MMA), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA). Type I PRMTs ((CARM1, PRMT1, PRMT2, PRMT3, PRMT6, and PRMT8) catalyze ADMA, while type II PRMTs (e.g. PRMTs 5 and 7) catalyze SDMA. Type II PRMTs are found to be strongly implicated in diseases like cancer. For example, PRMT5 plays a role in the repression of certain tumor suppressor genes such as RB tumor suppressors while PRMT7 overexpression is observed in breast cancer
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Application Reference(s):
1. Epigenetic control via allosteric regulation of mammalian protein arginine methyltransferases (2017)
2. Unique Features of Human Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 9 (PRMT9) and Its Substrate RNA Splicing Factor SF3B2 (2015)
