The vitamin biotin is an essential nutrient for the metabolism and survival of all organisms owing to its function as a cofactor of enzymes collectively known as biotin-dependent carboxylases. These enzymes use covalently attached biotin as a vector to transfer a carboxyl group between donor and acceptor molecules during carboxylation reactions. In human cells, biotin-dependent carboxylases catalyze key reactions in gluconeogenesis, fatty acid synthesis, and amino acid catabolism. Biotin is attached to apocarboxylases by a biotin ligase: holocarboxylase synthetase (HCS) in mammalian cells and BirA in microbes. Despite their evolutionary distance, these proteins share structural and sequence similarities, underscoring their importance across all life forms. However, beyond its role in metabolism, HCS participates in the regulation of biotin utilization and acts as a nuclear transcriptional coregulator of gene expression. In this review, we discuss the function of HCS and biotin in metabolism and human disease, a putative role for the enzyme in histone biotinylation, and its participation as a nuclear factor in chromatin dynamics. We suggest that HCS be classified as a moonlighting protein, with two biotin-dependent cytosolic metabolic roles and a distinct biotin-independent nuclear coregulatory function.

In recent decades, it was found that vitamins affect biological functions in ways other than their long-known functions; niacin is the best example of a water-soluble vitamin known to possess multiple actions. Biotin, also known as vitamin B7 or vitamin H, is a water-soluble B-complex vitamin that serves as a covalently-bound coenzyme of carboxylases. It is now well documented that biotin has actions other than participating in classical enzyme catalysis reactions. Several lines of evidence have demonstrated that pharmacological concentrations of biotin affect glucose and lipid metabolism, hypertension, reproduction, development, and immunity. The effect of biotin on these functions is related to its actions at the transcriptional, translational, and post-translational levels. The bestsupported mechanism involved in the genetic effects of biotin is the soluble guanylate cyclase/protein kinase G (PKG) signaling cascade. Although there are commercially-available products containing pharmacological concentrations of biotin, the toxic effects of biotin have been poorly studied. This review summarizes the known actions and molecular mechanisms of pharmacological doses of biotin in animals and current information regarding biotin toxicity.

Chromium is a potent human mutagen and carcinogen. The capability of chromium to cause cancers has been known for more than a century, and numerous epidemiological studies have been performed to determine its carcinogenicity. In the post-genome era, cancer has been found to relate to epigenetic mutations. However, very few researches have focused on hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI))-induced epigenetic alterations. The present study was designed to investigate whether Cr(VI) would affect the level of a newfound epigenetic modification: histone biotinylation. Histone acetylation and histone biotinylation were studied in detail using human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cells as an in vitro model after Cr(VI) treatment. Our study showed that Cr(VI) treatment decreased histone acetylation level in 16HBE cells. In addition, low doses of Cr(VI) (≤0.6μM) elevated the level of histone biotinylation. Furthermore, immunoblot analysis of biotinidase (BTD), a major protein which maintains homeostasis of histone biotinylation, showed that the distribution of BTD became less even and more concentrated at the nuclear periphery in cells exposed to Cr(VI). Moreover, Cr(VI)-induced histone deacetylation may take part in the regulation of histone biotinylation. Together, our study provides new insight into the mechanisms of Cr(VI)-induced epigenetic regulation that may contribute to the chemoprevention of Cr(VI)-induced cancers and may have important implications for epigenetic therapy.