Beyond histone acetylation—writing and erasing histone acylations

Histone post-translational modifications are crucial epigenetic mechanisms regulating a variety of biological events. Besides histone lysine acetylation, a repertoire of acylation types have been identified, including formylation, propionylation, butyrylation, crotonylation, 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation, β-hydroxybutyrylation, succinylation, malonylation, glutarylation and benzoylation. From a structural perspective, here we summarize the writers and erasers of histone acylations and explain the molecular basis of these enzymes catalyzing non-acetyl histone acylations with a focus on histone crotonylation and β-hydroxybutyrylation. Histone acylation readout, non-histone acylations and metabolic regulation are also discussed in this review.