HELLS, or LSH1, is a lymphoid-specific helicase thought to be involved in cellular proliferation and leukemogenesis. It is believed to be a chromatin remodeler and is required for DNMT1-mediated methylation maintenance and DNMT3A/DNMT3B-mediated de novo methylation. The role of HELLS in methylation maintenance was thought to be largely confined to repetitive DNA sequences, including major and minor satellite sequences, rather than single copy genes; recent evidence suggests a role in genome-wide cysteine methylation at non-repeat sequences. De novo methylation maintenance is associated with silencing of specific genes, some known to be involved in pluripotency and lineage commitment.
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