EHMT2 Gene

HGNC Family	Chromatin-modifying enzymes, Ankyrin repeat domain containing (ANKRD)
Name	euchromatic histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 2
Description	This gene encodes a methyltransferase that methylates lysine residues of histone H3. Methylation of H3 at lysine 9 by this protein results in recruitment of additional epigenetic regulators and repression of transcription. This gene was initially thought to be two different genes, NG36 and G9a, adjacent to each other in the HLA locus. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2016]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n EHMT2 (also known as G9a) is a major lysine methyltransferase that catalyzes dimethylation of histone H3 on lysine 9 (H3K9me1/2) in euchromatin, thereby establishing repressive chromatin marks that are essential for transcriptional silencing, proper embryonic development, and cell‐fate determination."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In mouse models and embryonic stem cells, loss or inactivation of EHMT2 leads to a severe reduction of H3K9 methylation, resulting in deregulated expression of developmental genes, impaired growth, and embryonic lethality"}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": ", as well as defects in the coordinated loading of epigenetic modifiers such as DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) during DNA replication."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "2"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": ""}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n In the context of cancer, EHMT2 is frequently recruited by sequence‐specific factors. For example, it forms complexes with transcriptional repressors such as Snail and PRDI-BF1 to silence epithelial or interferon-responsive genes via H3K9 methylation and subsequent DNA methylation, thereby promoting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and metastatic progression."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, EHMT2 can methylate nonhistone substrates such as p53—methylation at lysine 373 is associated with an inactive form of p53 and reduced apoptotic responses, further underlining its pro-survival and oncogenic potential."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "5"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n EHMT2 also participates in crosstalk between histone and DNA methylation. Even in situations where its catalytic activity is compromised, EHMT2-containing complexes can still promote gene silencing through enhanced recruitment of DNMTs, linking H3K9 methylation with stable DNA methylation patterns."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Overall, EHMT2 is emerging as an essential epigenetic regulator whose functions in establishing repressive chromatin are critical not only for normal developmental gene regulation but also for the epigenetic alterations observed in various cancers.\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Additional studies have implicated EHMT2 in the modulation of stem cell properties and the maintenance of proper gene expression programs at key developmental transitions, thereby highlighting its multifaceted roles in both physiological and pathological processes.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Makoto Tachibana, Kenji Sugimoto, Masami Nozaki, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "G9a histone methyltransferase plays a dominant role in euchromatic histone H3 lysine 9 methylation and is essential for early embryogenesis."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Genes Dev (2002)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1101/gad.989402"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.989402"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "12130538"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12130538"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Pierre-Olivier Estève, Hang Gyeong Chin, Andrea Smallwood, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Direct interaction between DNMT1 and G9a coordinates DNA and histone methylation during replication."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Genes Dev (2006)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1101/gad.1463706"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.1463706"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "17085482"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17085482"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Chenfang Dong, Yadi Wu, Jun Yao, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "G9a interacts with Snail and is critical for Snail-mediated E-cadherin repression in human breast cancer."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Clin Invest (2012)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1172/JCI57349"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI57349"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "22406531"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22406531"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ildikó Gyory, Jian Wu, György Fejér, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "PRDI-BF1 recruits the histone H3 methyltransferase G9a in transcriptional silencing."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nat Immunol (2004)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/ni1046"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1046"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "14985713"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14985713"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jing Huang, Jean Dorsey, Sergei Chuikov, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "G9a and Glp methylate lysine 373 in the tumor suppressor p53."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Biol Chem (2010)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/jbc.M109.062588"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M109.062588"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "20118233"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20118233"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Chao Dai, Wei Gu "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "p53 post-translational modification: deregulated in tumorigenesis."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Trends Mol Med (2010)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.molmed.2010.09.002"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2010.09.002"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "20932800"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20932800"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Makoto Tachibana, Yasuko Matsumura, Mikiko Fukuda, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "G9a/GLP complexes independently mediate H3K9 and DNA methylation to silence transcription."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "EMBO J (2008)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/emboj.2008.192"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/emboj.2008.192"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18818694"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18818694"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 8, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Andrea Smallwood, Pierre-Olivier Estève, Sriharsa Pradhan, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Functional cooperation between HP1 and DNMT1 mediates gene silencing."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Genes Dev (2007)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1101/gad.1536807"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.1536807"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "17470536"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17470536"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	BAT8, KMT1C, C6ORF30, GAT8, NG36, G9A
Proteins	EHMT2_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	10919
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Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

EHMT2 has 7,349 functional associations with biological entities spanning 9 categories (molecular profile, organism, chemical, functional term, phrase or reference, disease, phenotype or trait, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA, sequence feature) extracted from 134 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for EHMT2 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

EHMT2 Gene

Functional Associations

Please acknowledge the Harmonizome in your publications by citing the following reference(s):

	Dataset	Summary
	Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles	cell lines with fitness changed by EHMT2 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles	tissue samples with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq	tissue samples with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other cell lines from the BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures	small molecule perturbations changing expression of EHMT2 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of EHMT2 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of EHMT2 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with EHMT2 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with EHMT2 gene from the CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of EHMT2 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of EHMT2 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022	transcription factors binding the promoter of EHMT2 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies	assemblies containing EHMT2 protein from integrated AP-MS and IF data from the CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of EHMT2 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing EHMT2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing EHMT2 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with EHMT2 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components co-occuring with EHMT2 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	CORUM Protein Complexes	protein complexs containing EHMT2 protein from the CORUM Protein Complexes dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of EHMT2 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with EHMT2 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with EHMT2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with EHMT2 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations	traits associated with EHMT2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by EHMT2 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases associated with EHMT2 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with EHMT2 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with EHMT2 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases co-occuring with EHMT2 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with EHMT2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with EHMT2 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at EHMT2 gene from the ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of EHMT2 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of EHMT2 gene in ChIP-seq datasets from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets dataset.