KMT2A / MLL1 — the gene that breaks
also called MLL · MLL1 · mixed lineage leukemia 1 · HRX · ALL1 · HTRX1
KMT2A is a very large protein that acts as a foreman on DNA: it finds the right genes and marks them to be switched on during blood development. When the gene breaks in the middle, the surviving front half keeps the ability to find genes but loses the ability to stop, and gains a partner that jams the switch on.
The same thing, for a scientist
KMT2A (Q03164, 3,969 aa, 38 exons) is a histone H3K4 methyltransferase and the mammalian Trithorax homolog, essential for HOX gene maintenance in haematopoiesis. Fusions retain the N-terminal targeting and menin-docking modules and lose everything from the PHD fingers through the catalytic SET domain, making the fusion a gain-of-function neomorph rather than a loss-of-function allele.
This is real experimental data — atoms placed by crystallography or cryo-EM, deposited by the people who did the experiment.
I have never read one of these pictures before
A protein is one long chain of amino acids that folds up. The ribbon traces that chain from one end to the other; it is not a wire, it is a simplification of where the backbone runs. Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom.
Domains are the stretches of chain that do a particular job, and they are what the coloured blocks above the picture mark out. Click one and the view flies to it. In this project the important question about any domain is usually whether the fusion still has it — the labels say lost where it does not.
Anything in yellow sticks is a bound small molecule, which is usually the drug.
Correction: the bromodomain coordinates were wrong
This entry stored the KMT2A bromodomain at 1703-1809. UniProt Q03164 annotates it at 1635-1765, read directly from the REST record.
This was not cosmetic. As stored, the bromodomain spanned residues 1799-1802 — the HCF-1/HCF-2 binding motif, which is a separate short motif and not part of the bromodomain at all. Any reasoning that treated the HCF contact as bromodomain-mediated, or that drew the two as one block in the domain viewer, was working from a wrong picture.
Also corrected: FYRN now ends at 2074 rather than 2072, and a pre-PHD C2HC zinc finger at 1870-1910 has been added, which UniProt annotates immediately N-terminal to PHD4 and this entry omitted.
What is kept and what is lost1 deeper
Because breaks concentrate between exon 9 and exon 13, the fusion protein's composition is remarkably consistent no matter which partner joins.
Retained on the KMT2A side: the AT-hooks that grip DNA - described in most reviews as AT-rich minor-groove binders, but the only direct binding assay ever done on MLL's own hooks found them binding cruciform DNA, recognising structure rather than sequence 5; corrected 2026-09-18 - the subnuclear localisation signals, the two menin-binding motifs at the extreme N-terminus, and the CXXC domain that binds unmethylated CpG DNA.
Lost: PHD fingers 1-3, the bromodomain, the FYRN and FYRC regions, the transactivation domain, and the catalytic SET methyltransferase domain.
That asymmetry is the whole story. The fusion can still find its target genes but can no longer perform KMT2A's own regulated chemistry, and the partner supplies a transcription-elongation engine instead. The clinically important consequence is that the drug target is in the retained half, so a menin inhibitor works regardless of partner.
The PHD3 switch that gets thrown away
PHD finger 3 is the most interesting casualty. In intact KMT2A it binds either CYP33/PPIE or H3K4me2/3. When CYP33 binds, it isomerises a proline and converts KMT2A from an activator into a repressor by recruiting BMI1 and histone deacetylases. PHD2 and PHD3 also dock the E3 ligases that control how fast KMT2A is degraded.
So the fusion loses a brake, a self-regulating stability timer, and a context switch, all in one module. That is a candidate explanation for why the fusion program never turns itself off, and it is the mechanistic reason breakpoint position at exon 11 might matter 2. Whether it actually changes clinical behaviour is a separate and unsettled question.
Over a hundred partners, but a handful do most of the damage
Systematic sequencing of thousands of patients has catalogued more than 100 KMT2A fusion partners 1. In infant lymphoblastic leukemia the distribution is heavily skewed: AFF1 about 49%, MLLT1 about 22%, MLLT3 about 17% and MLLT10 about 5%. In infant myeloid leukemia the order changes, with MLLT10 about 27%, MLLT3 about 22% and ELL about 17% 3.
The skew is strategically useful. Four partners cover roughly nine in ten infant lymphoblastic cases, so a partner-agnostic target plus four partner-specific backup strategies would cover most of the population.
The gene is not a straightforward drug target itself
KMT2A is not DepMap common-essential, with a mean CRISPR gene-effect score of about -0.21, but it carries the tightest loss-of-function constraint in this whole target set, with a LOEUF of 0.070 4. Human heterozygotes for KMT2A loss have Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome, so removing KMT2A function is not benign.
There is also a practical obstacle for structural work: at 3,969 residues there is no AlphaFold model of full-length KMT2A, and no experimental structure of an intact fusion protein exists either. Any picture of the whole fusion is necessarily a schematic, and the graph marks it as such. Only fragments bound to partners have real coordinates.
Added cycle 89: which cells need KMT2A, and in which state
This entry carried no cell-type and no cell-state field for 71 cycles. Both are now recorded, and they do not say what a reader would guess.
Expression carries no information here. Human KMT2A RNA is Low tissue specificity, Detected in all, with low immune-cell and low blood-lineage specificity [Q127_celltype2]. Nothing about where the gene is transcribed narrows the compartment.
Requirement does. Conditional Mll deletion in mouse makes HSCs and myelo-erythroid progenitors Mll-dependent and leaves committed lymphoid and myeloid cells independent - and the direction of the cell-cycle effect REVERSES at that boundary: quiescence is maintained in HSCs, whose loss causes ectopic cell-cycle entry, while proliferation is promoted in progenitors, whose loss slows them down [Q127_celltype1]. The fetal arm of a second allele agrees on the quiescence half [Q127_cellstate1].
Cell-cycle dependence is a property of the protein and the fusion escapes it. Wild-type MLL is degraded biphasically, by SCF(Skp2) at S phase and APC(Cdc20) at late M, and the tested prevalent MLL fusions are resistant [Q127_cellstate2]. This graph already held that in cell-state-unsynchronisable-cell-cycle; it was not in this entry.
The boundary the sources support is multipotent versus committed, in mouse, and nothing finer. See mechanism-mll1-dependence-ends-at-lineage-commitment and cell-state-hsc-quiescence-maintained-by-mll1.
Added cycle 89: the epigenetics field this entry did not have
The oddest gap in the corpus: an entry for an H3K4 methyltransferase with no epigenetics field. What goes in it is less flattering than the job title.
- Scope of the requirement. In Mll1-null MEFs, Mll1 is required for H3K4me3 at fewer than 5% of the promoters carrying the mark, with the affected set enriched for Hox and other developmental regulators, and MLL3/MLL4 and Set1 complexes do not cover for it there [Q127_epi1].
- Whether the catalysis matters at all is contested. A SET-domain deletion leaves HSC maintenance and MLL-AF9 leukaemogenesis intact, and the mark that actually falls at MLL1 targets on Mll1 deletion is H4K16 acetylation, restored by SIRT1 inhibition - i.e. recruited MOF activity, not intrinsic methyltransferase activity [Q127_epi2]. Against that, MM-401, a WDR5-interface inhibitor of the same activity, selectively kills MLL cells with differentiation and apoptosis and no general marrow toxicity (PMID 24389101, in the counter-evidence of [Q127_epi2]).
- The mark oscillates. H3K4me3 at circadian promoters is rhythmic and MLL1 is required for the rhythm [Q127_epi3]. No occupancy experiment in this project records time of day.
None of this is new to the corpus. PMID 24813891 is cited in 32 other entries and PMID 17908926 in 24. What was new was putting them here. See ana-q127-the-pi-dimensions-were-absent-from-the-entries-not-from-the-corpus.
Added cycle 89: where these additions sit against what this entry already said
Three tensions, stated rather than silently resolved, because this project treats a silent overwrite as worse than a contradiction. No existing sentence in this entry was changed.
- The expert summary opens 'KMT2A ... is a histone H3K4 methyltransferase, and the mammalian Trithorax homolog, essential for HOX gene maintenance in haematopoiesis.' Every clause is defensible. Read together with [Q127_epi1] and [Q127_epi2] it overstates: the enzyme is required for the mark at under 5% of marked promoters, and the SET domain is dispensable for the HSC and MLL-AF9 phenotypes. The summary is not withdrawn; it is now bounded.
- 'KMT2A is not DepMap common-essential, with a mean CRISPR gene-effect score of about -0.21' (E4). True, and a 21-day proliferation screen in cancer lines cannot see a quiescence set-point in a normal stem cell. [Q127_celltype1] and [Q127_cellstate1] are the requirement measurement DepMap cannot make, and they point the other way. The two are not in conflict; they are different instruments and the entry now says so.
- The 'Correction: the bromodomain coordinates were wrong' section stands untouched and nothing added here revises any domain coordinate. The only coordinate touched by the new material is the SET domain, and it was re-verified against live UniProt Q03164 on 2026-09-23 as 3829-3945, which is exactly what this entry already stores.
| uniprot | Q03164 |
|---|---|
| length AA | 3969 |
| gene symbol | KMT2A |
| exons | 38 |
| cytoband | 11q23.3 |
| alphafold note | No full-length AlphaFold model exists; 3,969 aa exceeds database full-chain coverage |
| domain coordinate caveat | Domain boundaries are approximate and drawn from UniProt annotation and the cited structural literature; residue ranges for the PHD/bromo region in particular vary by a few residues between sources. Treat the ruler as a schematic of order and extent, not as exact coordinates. |
| PDB note | Ten curated entries, N to C, chosen so the tab strip walks the protein. Selected from the 60 entries containing Q03164; each identifier, its UniProt span and its method were fetched from the RCSB and PDBe APIs on 2026-09-19, not recalled. |
| subnuclear localization | NUCLEOLUS, INTERPHASE NUCLEAR MATRIX AND MITOTIC CHROMOSOMAL SCAFFOLDS (colocalised with topoisomerase II), plus a punctate nucleoplasmic pattern - all attributed to the MLL AMINO TERMINUS, in conditionally overexpressing U937 and HeLa [E_q72_kmt2a_loc4]. Plus an unnamed 'subnuclear compartment' occupied by the N320-C180 heterodimer [E_q72_kmt2a_loc3]. The compartment has never been identified, and the punctate pattern seen in translocated cells is IMAGE-UNATTRIBUTABLE by its own authors [E_q72_kmt2a_loc4 counter-note]. See localization-punctate-nuclear-hrx-the-mll-side-unattributable-image and localization-nuclear-matrix-mitotic-scaffold-kmt2a. [EXPLICIT NEGATIVE] WHAT IS ABSENT: no endogenous, junction-specific image of wild-type KMT2A separated from any fusion in a leukaemic cell; no identification of the subnuclear compartment the N320-C180 heterodimer occupies; no fractionation comparing a fusion's retained N-terminal region against wild-type N320, which is the direct test of the clamp prediction; and no localisation experiment in infant B-lineage KMT2A::AFF1 at all. UNPUBLISHED RATHER THAN NOT-APPLICABLE in every case. |
| epigenetic readout | KMT2A WRITES H3K4me1/2/3 through its C-terminal SET domain (aa 3829-3945, re-verified against live UniProt Q03164 on 2026-09-23), which every 5'-KMT2A direct fusion product deletes. THREE MEASUREMENTS BOUND WHAT THAT WRITING IS WORTH, and the entry's own summary line 'KMT2A ... is a histone H3K4 methyltransferase' should be read against them. (1) SCOPE: in Mll1-null MEFs, Mll1 is REQUIRED for H3K4me3 at UNDER 5% of the promoters carrying the mark; the affected set is enriched for Hox and other developmental regulators and shows matched losses of Pol II and expression, and MLL3/MLL4 and the Set1 complexes do NOT cover for it at Hox loci (PMID 19703992). (2) NECESSITY, CONTESTED: a SET-domain deletion leaves HSC maintenance and MLL-AF9 leukaemogenesis intact, and the mark that actually falls at MLL1 targets on Mll1 deletion is H4K16 ACETYLATION - recruited KAT8/MOF activity, not intrinsic methyltransferase activity - with SIRT1 inhibition sufficient to prevent the loss (PMID 24813891); AGAINST THAT, MM-401, which blocks the MLL1-WDR5 interaction and hence the same catalytic activity, selectively blocks MLL-cell proliferation with cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis and myeloid differentiation and no general marrow toxicity, with a transcriptome resembling MLL1 deletion (PMID 24389101). A SET DELETION AND AN ASSEMBLY BLOCKADE ARE DIFFERENT PERTURBATIONS and the graph should quote both. (3) TIME: H3K4me3 at circadian promoters is rhythmic and MLL1 is required for the oscillation, in a complex with CLOCK-BMAL1 (PMID 21113167). READING MODULES, held elsewhere in this graph: PHD3 binds H3K4me3 (interface-kmt2a-phd3-h3k4me3) and the CXXC domain binds unmethylated CpG (localization-cxxc-cpg-address); both are retained regions in the fusion while the writer is not. NOTHING HERE IS NEW TO THE CORPUS - PMID 24813891 is cited in 32 other entries and PMID 17908926 in 24 - and none of it was in this entry before cycle 89. |
| writer of that mark | KMT2A SET domain, aa 3829-3945 (UniProt Q03164, re-verified 2026-09-23); lost in every 5'-KMT2A direct fusion product |
| q127 amendment note | Cycle 89 added data.cell_type, data.cell_state, data.epigenetic_readout, data.mark_written and data.writer_of_that_mark, eight evidence items with the Q127_ prefix, three sections and six open questions. NOTHING EXISTING WAS REMOVED OR EDITED; the script that made this change asserted that every pre-existing key and section survived byte-identical. Three tensions with pre-existing content are stated in the section 'where these additions sit against what this entry already said' rather than resolved by overwriting. |
domains — the numbers behind the chart
[
{
"name": "MBM1",
"start": 4,
"end": 15,
"note": "menin-binding motif 1, core RWRFP at 6-10",
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "MBM2",
"start": 23,
"end": 40,
"note": "menin-binding motif 2, ~20x weaker",
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "AT-hook 1",
"start": 168,
"end": 180,
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "AT-hook 2",
"start": 217,
"end": 229,
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "AT-hook 3",
"start": 306,
"end": 318,
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "SNL1/2",
"start": 380,
"end": 420,
"note": "subnuclear localisation",
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "CXXC",
"start": 1147,
"end": 1242,
"note": "binds unmethylated CpG DNA",
"fate": "retained"
},
{
"name": "PHD1",
"start": 1431,
"end": 1482,
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "PHD2",
"start": 1479,
"end": 1533,
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "PHD3",
"start": 1566,
"end": 1627,
"note": "CYP33 / H3K4me3 switch",
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "Bromodomain",
"start": 1635,
"end": 1765,
"fate": "lost",
"note": " Coordinates corrected 2026-09-18 from 1703-1809, which was wrong and consequential: as stored it spanned residues 1799-1802, the HCF-1/HCF-2 binding motif, which is not part of the bromodomain. Source: UniProt Q03164 Domain 'Bromo' 1635-1765, read directly from the REST record."
},
{
"name": "pre-PHD C2HC zinc finger",
"start": 1870,
"end": 1910,
"aliases": [
"C2HC pre-PHD-type",
"pre-PHD"
],
"note": "UniProt Q03164 annotates a C2HC pre-PHD-type zinc finger immediately N-terminal to PHD4. Added 2026-09-18; the graph listed PHD1-4 without it. Like PHD4 it lies beyond the breakpoint cluster region and is therefore absent from every fusion.",
"source": "UniProt Q03164"
},
{
"name": "PHD4",
"start": 1931,
"end": 1978,
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "FYRN",
"start": 2018,
"end": 2074,
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "TAD",
"start": 2829,
"end": 2883,
"note": "transactivation domain, binds CBP",
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "FYRC",
"start": 3666,
"end": 3747,
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "WIN",
"start": 3762,
"end": 3773,
"note": "WDR5-interaction motif, key residue Arg3765",
"fate": "lost"
},
{
"name": "SET",
"start": 3829,
"end": 3945,
"note": "H3K4 methyltransferase",
"fate": "lost"
}
]essentiality
{
"depmap_common_essential": false,
"chronos_mean": -0.206,
"chronos_mean_leukemia_lines": -0.362,
"gnomad_pLI": 1,
"gnomad_loeuf": 0.07,
"human_haploinsufficiency": "Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome"
}partner distribution infant all — the numbers behind the chart
[
{
"partner": "AFF1",
"pct": 49
},
{
"partner": "MLLT1",
"pct": 22
},
{
"partner": "MLLT3",
"pct": 17
},
{
"partner": "MLLT10",
"pct": 5
}
]partner distribution infant aml — the numbers behind the chart
[
{
"partner": "MLLT10",
"pct": 27
},
{
"partner": "MLLT3",
"pct": 22
},
{
"partner": "ELL",
"pct": 17
}
]PDB IDS
[ "4GQ6", "3U88", "2MTN", "7S8E", "4NW3", "3LQJ", "5SVH", "3EG6", "2W5Y", "6PWV" ]
PDB curated — the numbers behind the chart
[
{
"pdb": "4GQ6",
"unp_start": 6,
"unp_end": 15,
"method": "X-ray 1.55 Å",
"title": "Human menin in complex with MLL peptide",
"why_it_matters": "The drug target. This is the MBM1 motif sitting in menin's pocket - the interface revumenib blocks. RETAINED in every KMT2A fusion."
},
{
"pdb": "3U88",
"unp_start": 103,
"unp_end": 153,
"method": "X-ray 3.0 Å",
"title": "Human menin in complex with MLL1 and LEDGF",
"why_it_matters": "Menin, MLL1 and LEDGF/PSIP1 together. The ternary complex that actually puts the fusion on chromatin. RETAINED."
},
{
"pdb": "2MTN",
"unp_start": 110,
"unp_end": 160,
"method": "NMR",
"title": "Solution structure of MLL-IBD complex",
"why_it_matters": "The same MLL1 region bound to the LEDGF/p75 integrase-binding domain, solved independently. RETAINED."
},
{
"pdb": "7S8E",
"unp_start": 747,
"unp_end": 755,
"method": "X-ray 1.6 Å",
"title": "HLA-B*07:02 with MLL(747-755) phosphopeptide",
"why_it_matters": "A nine-residue stretch of MLL displayed on an HLA molecule - i.e. a candidate neoantigen. An immunological angle on a region nothing else has solved."
},
{
"pdb": "4NW3",
"unp_start": 1147,
"unp_end": 1204,
"method": "X-ray 2.82 Å",
"title": "MLL CXXC domain in complex with CpG DNA",
"why_it_matters": "How the fusion finds unmethylated CpG. The last solved fragment before the breakpoints. RETAINED."
},
{
"pdb": "3LQJ",
"unp_start": 1566,
"unp_end": 1784,
"method": "X-ray 1.9 Å",
"title": "MLL1 PHD3-Bromo with H3(1-9)K4me3 peptide",
"why_it_matters": "The PHD3-bromodomain cassette reading H3K4me3 - the CyP33 switch. LOST from the fusion."
},
{
"pdb": "5SVH",
"unp_start": 2839,
"unp_end": 2869,
"method": "X-ray 2.05 Å",
"title": "CBP KIX domain with an MLL/c-Myb chimera",
"why_it_matters": "The transactivation domain docked on CBP. LOST from the fusion."
},
{
"pdb": "3EG6",
"unp_start": 3762,
"unp_end": 3773,
"method": "X-ray 1.72 Å",
"title": "WDR5 bound to MLL1 WIN peptide",
"why_it_matters": "The WIN motif in WDR5's central channel - the interface WIN-site inhibitors target. LOST from the fusion, which is why that strategy cannot be aimed at the fusion itself."
},
{
"pdb": "2W5Y",
"unp_start": 3785,
"unp_end": 3969,
"method": "X-ray 2.0 Å",
"title": "MLL1 SET domain with cofactor product",
"why_it_matters": "The catalytic engine, with its methyl donor. LOST from the fusion - the enzyme activity the gene is named for is not in the oncoprotein."
},
{
"pdb": "6PWV",
"unp_start": 3762,
"unp_end": 3969,
"method": "cryo-EM 6.2 Å",
"title": "MLL1 core complex bound to the nucleosome",
"why_it_matters": "The whole MLL1 core complex - WDR5, RBBP5, ASH2L, DPY30 - engaging a nucleosome. The machine in full, and all of it LOST from the fusion."
}
]structural coverage
{
"solved_spans": [
[
4,
25
],
[
103,
160
],
[
747,
755
],
[
1143,
1214
],
[
1564,
1784
],
[
2839,
2869
],
[
3754,
3969
]
],
"residues_solved": 629,
"length_aa": 3969,
"percent_solved": 15.8,
"largest_unsolved_gaps": [
[
1785,
2838
],
[
2870,
3753
],
[
161,
746
],
[
756,
1142
],
[
1215,
1563
]
],
"breakpoint_region_1100_1445_percent_solved": 21,
"source": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/api/mappings/best_structures/Q03164",
"retrieved": "2026-09-19",
"note": "Union over all 60 PDB entries that contain any part of Q03164. 84% of KMT2A has never been seen at atomic resolution, and the breakpoint cluster region is almost all of what is missing: the only solved piece inside 1100-1445 is the CXXC domain, which sits just 5' of where the gene is actually cut."
}depmap kmt2a selectivity
{
"chronos_mean_kmt2a_rearranged": -0.8113,
"chronos_mean_other_leukaemia": -0.2701,
"difference": -0.5411,
"pan_essentiality_all_lines": -0.2062,
"selectivity_rank": 11,
"rank_denominator": 17728,
"provenance": "Joined 2026-09-21 from analyses/depmap-kmt2a-selective-scan-full (generated 2026-09-19T10:12:06Z), the project's own genome-wide scan over 11 KMT2A-rearranged and 43 other leukaemia DepMap lines. NOT re-fetched and NOT independent of that scan: every caveat it carries applies here, including that the KMT2A-rearranged arm is a small number of lines drawn from nine individuals, that the rank denominator is 17,728 genes, and that a difference is not a dependency. Added because only 26 of 308 gene entries carried this number, which made any KMT2A-selectivity question answerable for 8% of the corpus.",
"how_to_read": "A negative difference means MORE required in KMT2A-rearranged lines than in other leukaemia lines. A rank near 17,728 is ANTI-selective. Neither is evidence of a fusion-driven dependency on its own: check pan_essentiality_all_lines before calling anything selective, and note that a paralogue-redundant gene can score near zero for reasons that have nothing to do with this disease - see ana-the-paralogue-redundancy-excuse-is-not-tested-and-my-proxy-decided-the-answer."
}localization
{
"subcellular": "NUCLEUS - and UniProt Q03164 says it THREE TIMES, once for full-length KMT2A (ECO:0000269 on PMID 12482972, 25593309 and 34850113) and once each for the taspase1 cleavage products N320 and C180, both WITH NO EVIDENCE CODE [E_q72_kmt2a_loc1]. Two of the three experimental attributions on the full-length line are not KMT2A localisation studies at all - a DNA-damage bromodomain relocalisation screen and a KSHV LANA latency paper [E_q72_kmt2a_loc2]. No cytoplasmic pool is annotated and none has been reported for wild-type KMT2A.",
"two_fragment_reality": "A LOCALISATION RECORD THAT SAYS ONLY 'NUCLEUS' IS WRONG FOR THIS PROTEIN. KMT2A is cleaved by taspase1 into N320 and C180, which re-associate through FYRN-FYRC; the heterodimer is what occupies a subnuclear compartment, and disrupting the clamp drops N320 levels and redistributes C180 to a DIFFUSE nuclear pattern [E_q72_kmt2a_loc3]. Every leukaemia fusion loses C180 entirely and can never form the clamp, so the fusion is permanently in the state that experiment created artificially - an untested prediction, not a measurement. CONTESTED: preventing cleavage altogether left localisation unchanged (PMID 30573454). See localization-fyrn-fyrc-complex-the-only-module-change-with-a-measured-subnuclear-consequence.",
"subnuclear": "NUCLEOLUS, INTERPHASE NUCLEAR MATRIX AND MITOTIC CHROMOSOMAL SCAFFOLDS (colocalised with topoisomerase II), plus a punctate nucleoplasmic pattern - all attributed to the MLL AMINO TERMINUS, in conditionally overexpressing U937 and HeLa [E_q72_kmt2a_loc4]. Plus an unnamed 'subnuclear compartment' occupied by the N320-C180 heterodimer [E_q72_kmt2a_loc3]. The compartment has never been identified, and the punctate pattern seen in translocated cells is IMAGE-UNATTRIBUTABLE by its own authors [E_q72_kmt2a_loc4 counter-note]. See localization-punctate-nuclear-hrx-the-mll-side-unattributable-image and localization-nuclear-matrix-mitotic-scaffold-kmt2a.",
"explicit_no": "WHAT IS ABSENT: no endogenous, junction-specific image of wild-type KMT2A separated from any fusion in a leukaemic cell; no identification of the subnuclear compartment the N320-C180 heterodimer occupies; no fractionation comparing a fusion's retained N-terminal region against wild-type N320, which is the direct test of the clamp prediction; and no localisation experiment in infant B-lineage KMT2A::AFF1 at all. UNPUBLISHED RATHER THAN NOT-APPLICABLE in every case.",
"import_determinant": "A REGION CONTAINING THE AT-HOOK MOTIFS, mapped in MLL-AF6 by immunofluorescence plus fractionation [E_q72_kmt2a_loc5]. UniProt annotates NO NLS motif on KMT2A. Because every fusion retains that region, a nuclear result carries almost no information about which fusion is present - see localization-nuclear-import-determinant-maps-to-the-at-hook-region.",
"how_shown": "UniProtKB Q03164 fetched 2026-09-21 and read comment-by-comment for molecule scope and ECO codes; taspase1 cleavage and FYRN-FYRC disruption in transfected cells (PMID 12482972); conditional expression with immunofluorescence, nuclear-matrix preparation and mitotic-scaffold staining (PMID 11069025); size-resolved Western plus immunocytochemistry with the same monoclonal and polyclonal reagents on t(4;11) and t(11;19) cells (PMID 9129043); deletion-construct immunofluorescence plus fractionation (PMID 9349501).",
"systems": "transfected cell lines (1997, 2003); U937 monocytic and HeLa under conditional expression (2000); primary and cell-line material carrying t(4;11) and t(11;19), imaged but unattributable (1997); HeLa/U2OS DNA-damage and KSHV-latency systems behind two of UniProt's three codes. NO INFANT B-LINEAGE KMT2A::AFF1 LOCALISATION EXPERIMENT EXISTS.",
"shown_for_fusion_localisation": "NAME WHICH, because a bare answer collapses three different states. (1) MLL-AF6 / KMT2A::AFDN - nuclear, shown by IF AND fractionation, and the determinant mapped to the KMT2A half (PMID 9349501). (2) MLL-AF9 / KMT2A::MLLT3 and MLL-AF4 / KMT2A::AFF1 - nucleoplasm and nucleolus, punctate, but under CONDITIONAL OVEREXPRESSION in U937 and HeLa and indistinguishable from an N-terminal MLL fragment (PMID 11069025). (3) Chimeric HRX in t(4;11) and t(11;19) patient-derived cells - punctate nuclear, BUT THE AUTHORS THEMSELVES STATE THE IMAGE CANNOT DISTINGUISH FUSION FROM WILD-TYPE (PMID 9129043). So: nothing endogenous and junction-specific in ANY fusion, and nothing at all in infant B-lineage KMT2A::AFF1.",
"node": "localization-fyrn-fyrc-complex-the-only-module-change-with-a-measured-subnuclear-consequence"
}cell type
{
"evidence_class_key": "concept-expressed-required-maintains-three-evidence-classes",
"expressed_in": {
"class": 1,
"summary": "ubiquitous and uninformative. HPA RNA: Low tissue specificity / Detected in all; Low immune cell specificity; Low lineage specificity; Low single-cell type specificity [Q127_celltype2]",
"source": "https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000118058.json fetched 2026-09-23; HPA release not returned by the endpoint and therefore NOT recorded"
},
"required_in": {
"class": 2,
"compartments_required": [
"HSC",
"myelo-erythroid progenitor"
],
"compartments_not_required": [
"committed lymphoid",
"committed myeloid"
],
"direction_of_effect": "OPPOSITE in the two required compartments - quiescence maintained in HSC, proliferation promoted in progenitors",
"source": "PMID 18371366, mouse inducible conditional Mll [Q127_celltype1]",
"granularity_limit": "multipotent versus committed is the ONLY boundary the sources establish; no finer ordering among HSC, MPP, LMPP, CMP and GMP is supported, and none should be inferred here",
"why_depmap_cannot_see_this": "DepMap scores 21-day proliferation in cancer lines. A quiescence set-point in a normal stem cell is not a proliferation phenotype, and the entry's own -0.21 mean Chronos (E4) is silent about it rather than contradicting it."
},
"antibody_based_tissue_call": {
"class": "weak - antibody staining, not requirement",
"top_tissue": "bone marrow",
"top_tissue_intensity_arbitrary_units": 4547068.8,
"top_cell_type": "hepatocytes",
"top_cell_type_intensity_arbitrary_units": 50273485.5,
"antibodies": [
"CAB017794",
"CAB024270",
"HPA044910"
],
"reliability_ih": "Enhanced",
"reliability_if": "Supported",
"why_held_at_arms_length": "the hepatocyte call has no support in the haematopoietic literature and points away from the bone-marrow call; two discordant calls from one instrument read as an antibody signature"
},
"context": "mouse for every requirement measurement; human only for expression. No human KMT2A requirement measurement in a normal haematopoietic compartment exists.",
"graph_links": [
"cell-type-hsc-bone-marrow",
"cell-type-fetal-liver-hsc",
"cell-type-mpp",
"cell-type-cmp",
"cell-type-gmp",
"cell-type-pro-b",
"mechanism-mll1-dependence-ends-at-lineage-commitment"
]
}cell state
{
"maintains": {
"class": 3,
"states": [
"cell-state-hsc-quiescence-maintained-by-mll1",
"cell-state-circadian-h3k4me3-oscillation-requires-mll1"
],
"claim": "MLL1 MAINTAINS quiescence in the HSC - its loss causes ectopic cell-cycle entry and depletes the quiescent pool - while PROMOTING proliferation one step down in myelo-erythroid progenitors. The fetal arm of an independent allele agrees on the quiescence half.",
"pmids": [
"18371366",
"18371367"
]
},
"cell_cycle_dependence": {
"class": 2,
"claim": "Wild-type MLL is biphasically degraded - SCF(Skp2) at S phase, APC(Cdc20) at late M - producing two protein peaks; loss of the peaks gives G1/S and M defects and overexpression blocks S phase. Degradation initiates in the N-terminal ~1,400 aa, and tested prevalent MLL fusions are RESISTANT, so the fusion escapes a regulatory layer the wild-type protein has.",
"pmid": "17908926",
"already_in_graph_at": "cell-state-unsynchronisable-cell-cycle, which also records that five KMT2A-rearranged lines refuse chemical synchronisation and that MLL-AF4 protein does not fluctuate through the cycle in SEM"
},
"time_of_day": {
"class": 3,
"claim": "H3K4me3 at circadian promoters is rhythmic and MLL1 is required for the rhythm; MLL1 is in a complex with CLOCK-BMAL1 and does not interact with CLOCK-delta19.",
"pmid": "21113167",
"consequence_for_this_project": "no ChIP, CUT&RUN or occupancy measurement in this graph records time of day, and at rhythmic promoters that is an uncontrolled between-experiment variable"
},
"network": {
"class": 3,
"claim": "the Mll-dependent HSC network extends well beyond Hox, contains many self-renewal regulators, and splits into menin-dependent and menin-independent targets; PRDM16 partially rescues Mll-deficient HSPCs",
"pmid": "23744037"
},
"shown_for_fusion": "NAME WHICH, and the answer differs by row. Cell-cycle degradation: YES, shown for prevalent MLL fusions as a class and specifically for MLL-AF4 in SEM (PMID 17908926). Quiescence set-point: NO - nobody has looked in any fusion, every measurement deletes the whole locus in a fusion-free animal. Circadian: NO - nobody has looked in any leukaemic cell."
}mark written
[ "H3K4me3", "H3K4me2", "H3K4me1" ]
- KMT2A itself is under very strong human loss-of-function constraint and heterozygous loss causes a developmental syndrome, so anything that degrades wild-type KMT2A alongside the fusion carries real risk.
- No structure of the intact fusion exists, so every whole-protein figure is a schematic and structure-based design is limited to fragments.
- MLL1 maintains HSC quiescence and promotes progenitor proliferation - opposite signs in adjacent compartments. Any normal-haematopoiesis safety readout pooled across compartments can report 'no effect' by averaging an increase against a decrease, and that is the design most preclinical packages use.
- The catalytic activity everyone names the protein after is dispensable in a SET-deletion allele and required in a WDR5-interface inhibitor. A programme aimed at KMT2A catalysis is aimed at an activity whose necessity the field has not settled.
- Is there any surface present on the fusion protein but absent from wild-type KMT2A, for example at the junction itself, that could be drugged or targeted immunologically with real selectivity?
- Since no structure of an intact fusion protein exists, what does the full assembly actually look like on chromatin, and could predicted models of the retained half plus partner guide new interfaces?
- Does losing the PHD3 CYP33 switch account for the non-terminating program, and can that brake be restored pharmacologically rather than blocking menin?
- Does the fusion's retained N-terminal region fractionate differently from wild-type N320? The FYRN-FYRC clamp prediction (PMID 12482972) has never been tested on a fusion, and a five-fraction blot in a t(4;11) line would do it - the size dimension attributes the species, which imaging cannot.
- What IS the subnuclear compartment the N320-C180 heterodimer occupies? It has been named 'a subnuclear compartment' since 2003 and never identified against any known structure.
- Is the wild-type MLL1 allele still holding HSC quiescence in a cell that also carries a KMT2A fusion? Every quiescence measurement deletes the whole locus in a fusion-free animal, and the fusion is a dominant negative for ATR-mediated stabilisation of wild-type MLL, so the wild-type allele may already be compromised before any drug is given.
- What fraction of H3K4me3 promoters requires MLL1 in a haematopoietic cell? The under-5% figure is from fibroblasts, and the number this project would actually use has never been measured.
- Does a menin inhibitor move the HSC quiescence set-point? The class's documented normal-blood liability is impaired recovery under stress, and stress recovery is cell-cycle re-entry. A Ki-67/Hoechst readout on LSK cells after 14 days of drug is the direct experiment and is unreported.
- SET deletion says the catalysis is dispensable and MM-401 says it is required. Is the difference that the inhibitor also removes WDR5-dependent complex assembly? A WIN-motif point mutant that preserves catalysis while blocking assembly, or the reverse, would separate them, and neither has been reported in a fusion line.
- Is MLL1-dependent H3K4me3 rhythmic in a blood cell, and at HOXA? Six timepoints over 24 h in a synchronised HSPC culture answers it, and would say whether every single-timepoint occupancy measurement in this project has an uncontrolled covariate.
- Which of the Mll-dependent HSC network genes are menin-dependent? PMID 23744037 reports the split without enumerating it, and that enumeration decides how much of normal HSC biology a menin inhibitor is expected to touch.
- E1established confidence 5 of 5: Multiple independent lines of evidence; treated as settled in the field.paper
The 2023 KMT2A recombinome analysed 3,401 acute leukaemia patients diagnosed between 2003 and 2022 and, including published data, identifies **107 in-frame KMT2A fusion partners**, with a further 16 out-of-frame rearrangements, 18 patients with no partner gene fused to 5'-KMT2A, two with a 5'-KMT2A deletion and one KMT2A insertion at an ETV6::RUNX1 breakpoint. Breakpoints concentrate overwhelmingly in the major cluster region BCR1, between KMT2A intron 7 and exon 13: **3,336 patients (98%)**, against 47 (1.4%) in the minor BCR2 between intron 20 and exon 24. The seven most frequent partners together with partial tandem duplications account for more than 90% of all KMT2A recombinations; 37 partners occur recurrently and 63 were seen once.
The KMT2A recombinome of acute leukemias in 2023. · Meyer C, Larghero P, Almeida Lopes B, et al. · Leukemia 2023What this evidence cannot show
Read in full from PMC10169636 on 2026-09-19; every figure above is from the abstract and the breakpoint-distribution section, not recalled. This item previously said only 'more than 100 documented fusion partners, catalogued across thousands of patients, with breaks concentrated in a major cluster region' and was surfaced by `scripts/verify-claims.py` as one of the graph's lowest-scoring established claims — vagueness scores low against a specific abstract. A referral-based cohort from one diagnostic centre, so partner frequencies reflect which centres send samples rather than a true population distribution, and the 98% BCR1 figure is conditioned on a rearrangement having been detected by that laboratory's assays.
Evidence that argues against this (2)
- 'More than 100 documented fusion partners' conflates recurrent drivers with single-patient observations, and the tail is longer than the head. This project's own non-elongation-partner enumeration found partners listed in the recombinome with ZERO supporting publications - SEPTIN3 at n=1 and ITSN1 at n=1 - alongside partners with dozens of papers. A partner count also grows with sequencing depth rather than with biology, so the number tracks method as much as it tracks the locus. Leukemia 2023
- Concentration in one cluster region is not homogeneity within it, and the same paper says so: outcome has been linked to breakpoint position inside BCR1, with patients breaking in KMT2A intron 11 faring worse than those breaking upstream, the cut point falling between intron 10 and exon 11. The 63 partners seen only once also mean the '107 partners' figure is dominated by singletons whose biology is uncharacterised. Leukemia 2023
- E2strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
KMT2A comprises 38 exons; exons 11-16 encode the PHD1-PHD2-ePHD3 module, and breaks at or beyond exon 11 destroy its fold, disabling CYP33 binding and the module's dimerisation.
The KMT2A/MLL consensus gene structure: a comprehensive update for research and diagnostic implications · Meyer C, Larghero P, Lopes BA, Marschalek R · Leukemia 2024What this evidence cannot show
The structural consequence of a break past exon 11 is inferred from domain boundaries and prior functional work on PHD3, not demonstrated on isogenic fusion proteins differing only in break position.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- Exon numbering for KMT2A has been revised more than once — a 99-bp exon 2 and an exon inside intron 21 were added to the consensus structure — so "exon 11" means different positions in different papers and any breakpoint statement tied to an exon number has to name which numbering it uses. That breaks at or beyond exon 11 destroy the PHD fold is a structural inference from domain boundaries rather than a measured loss of CYP33 binding in patient material. Blood Cells, Molecules and Diseases 2010
- E3strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.review
In infant lymphoblastic leukemia the commonest KMT2A partners are AFF1 (49%), MLLT1 (22%), MLLT3 (17%) and MLLT10 (5%); in infant myeloid leukemia MLLT10 (27%), MLLT3 (22%) and ELL (17%) dominate.
Treatment of infant leukemias: challenge and promise · Brown P · Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program 2013What this evidence cannot show
A 2013 educational review; percentages are of the subset of cases with an identified partner (93% of infant ALL, 66% of infant AML) and come from referral cohorts.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- Partner frequencies are detection-limited. Cohorts characterised by targeted RT-PCR panels built around the common partners will report those partners most, cryptic insertions can be missed entirely, and the proportions shift between eras as methods change. The ordering is robust; the percentages are not. Leukemia 2001
- E4strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.database
KMT2A is not DepMap common-essential (mean Chronos about -0.21) yet has the strongest loss-of-function constraint among candidate targets examined, with LOEUF 0.070 and pLI approximately 1.0.
DepMap CRISPR (Chronos) gene effect and gnomAD constraint, retrieved via the Open Targets Platform GraphQL API and the gnomAD GraphQL API · Broad Institute DepMap; gnomAD; Open Targets · Databases 2026What this evidence cannot show
Per-line values were retrieved through the Open Targets API and means computed by us; the DepMap release version is not stated by the API. Cell-line essentiality does not predict tissue tolerance, and constraint reflects selection against heterozygous carriers rather than cellular requirement.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- A gnomAD constraint metric measures intolerance to heterozygous loss over a lifetime from conception, in a population sample. A drug gives partial reversible occupancy in an adult for weeks, so high constraint is not a safety signal for pharmacological inhibition. There is also a tension inside this item: a gene that is not common-essential in DepMap yet carries LOEUF 0.070 is showing exactly the divergence between cellular requirement and organismal constraint that makes constraint a poor proxy for on-target toxicity. gnomAD, Broad Institute 2026
- E5moderate confidence 3 of 5: One strong study, or several smaller consistent ones.paper
The bacterially expressed MLL AT-hook domain binds cruciform DNA in a gel mobility shift assay, recognising the structure rather than the sequence of the target DNA; the same study maps a transcriptional activation domain 3' and a repression domain 5' of the MLL breakpoint region, so 11q23 translocations retain the repression domain and the AT-hook DNA-binding region while discarding the activation domain.
11q23 translocations split the "AT-hook" cruciform DNA-binding region and the transcriptional repression domain from the activation domain of the mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) gene · Zeleznik-Le NJ, Harden AM, Rowley JD · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 91(22):10610-4 1994What this evidence cannot show
ABSTRACT ONLY for the binding experiment's details - the wording 'recognizing structure rather than sequence of the target DNA' is the authors' own, quoted from the PubMed abstract; the PMC full text was not read, so the substrate panel, competitor set and affinities behind that conclusion were not independently inspected. 1994 gel-shift biochemistry with a bacterially expressed AT-hook fragment, not the full-length protein and not in cells. This is the ONLY direct binding assay on MLL's own AT-hooks; the much larger literature describing AT-hooks as AT-rich minor-groove binders is about the motif class (Reeves & Nissen consensus peptide, HMGA proteins), not about MLL. Structure preference and AT-richness are also confounded, because AT-rich tracts are the sequences that most readily bend and extrude cruciforms.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- The generic AT-hook motif is defined as an A.T-rich minor-groove binder, so a class-level prior runs against the structure-recognition reading, and the 1994 result has not been independently replicated with modern methods. Reeves R et al. 1990
- E_kmt2a_structural_coverageestablished confidence 5 of 5: Multiple independent lines of evidence; treated as settled in the field.database
Across every PDB entry containing KMT2A (Q03164), only 629 of 3,969 residues - 15.8% - have been solved at atomic resolution, in seven disconnected islands. The breakpoint cluster region (~residues 1100-1445) is 21% covered, and that coverage is entirely the CXXC domain (1143-1214); the residues where the gene is actually broken have never been seen. The two largest unsolved stretches are 1785-2838 and 2870-3753.
PDBe SIFTS best_structures mapping for UniProt Q03164 · EMBL-EBI PDBe API 2026What this evidence cannot show
Computed by the coordinator from the live SIFTS mapping on 2026-09-19 by merging all unp_start/unp_end spans; the number will drift as new entries are deposited. Counts residues present in a deposited model, which is not the same as residues that are ordered and well-resolved - at 6.2 A the cryo-EM span in particular is backbone-level. Isoform numbering follows canonical Q03164.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- Low coverage is not the same as low knowledge. The unsolved regions are largely predicted to be intrinsically disordered, and AlphaFold declines to model the chain at all at this length, so there may be little fixed structure there to solve. The honest reading is that the breakpoint region has no known fold, not that someone simply has not got round to it. EMBL-EBI AlphaFold DB 2026
- E_q72_kmt2a_loc1established confidence 5 of 5: Multiple independent lines of evidence; treated as settled in the field.database
UNIPROT MODELS THE TWO-FRAGMENT REALITY AND ATTRIBUTES ONLY ONE THIRD OF IT. Fetched 2026-09-21, Q03164 (KMT2A_HUMAN, primary gene KMT2A, 3,969 aa) carries THREE separate SUBCELLULAR LOCATION comments, not one: the full-length protein, 'Nucleus', with three ECO:0000269 attributions (PMID 12482972, 25593309, 34850113); a comment scoped to the molecule 'MLL cleavage product N320', 'Nucleus', WITH NO EVIDENCE CODE AT ALL; and a comment scoped to 'MLL cleavage product C180', 'Nucleus', ALSO WITH NO EVIDENCE CODE, carrying the uncoded note 'Localizes to a diffuse nuclear pattern when not associated with MLL cleavage product N320'. So any entry that reads the first comment and stops has silently dropped the two fragments the protein actually exists as.
UniProtKB entry Q03164 (KMT2A_HUMAN), three molecule-scoped SUBCELLULAR LOCATION comments and feature table · UniProt Consortium · UniProtKB 2026What this evidence cannot show
A database state on a date, not a biological finding. The molecule-scoped comments are the ones that matter for this project and they are exactly the ones with no evidence code - they restate PMID 12482972's result without citing it, so they are curator prose rather than an attributed assertion, and a downstream tool that filters on ECO:0000269 will keep the least specific line and discard the two useful ones. That is the same failure shape as brief rule 69b: the field you read decides the finding.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- The uncoded C180 note is not merely unattributed, it is CONTESTED. A 2019 study blocking taspase1 cleavage reported MLL1 left uncleaved, more degradation-resistant, with markedly increased genome-wide chromatin occupancy and SUBCELLULAR LOCALISATION UNCHANGED. Those are different perturbations - a clamp-disrupted fragment pair versus prevention of cleavage - but a reader taking UniProt's uncoded note as settled gets no warning that a peer-reviewed paper reports no localisation change in the same pathway. Zhao Z et al. 2019
- E_q72_kmt2a_loc2strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
TWO OF THE THREE EXPERIMENTAL PAPERS UNIPROT CITES FOR 'KMT2A IS NUCLEAR' ARE NOT KMT2A LOCALISATION STUDIES. PMID 25593309 is a screen of human bromodomain proteins for DNA-damage-induced RELOCALISATION, in which more than a third of BRD proteins change localisation after damage and whose subject is ZMYND8 and the NuRD complex; PMID 34850113 is a KSHV latency paper about LANA recruiting MLL1 to viral terminal repeats. Both are legitimate observations of a nuclear MLL1 and neither was designed to establish where KMT2A is. The one cited paper that is a KMT2A localisation study is PMID 12482972 [E_q72_kmt2a_loc3].
Screen identifies bromodomain protein ZMYND8 in chromatin recognition of transcription-associated DNA damage that promotes homologous recombination. · Gong F, Chiu LY, Cox B, Aymard F, Clouaire T, Leung JW, Cammarata M, Perez M, Agarwal P, Brodbelt JS, Legube G, Miller KM · Genes Dev 2015What this evidence cannot show
Abstracts read in full; full texts not read, so a localisation panel inside either paper cannot be excluded (brief rule 80). This is a comment on PROVENANCE, not a challenge to the conclusion - KMT2A is nuclear and nobody disputes it. It is recorded because this graph repeatedly reads UniProt attributions as if the cited PMID were the founding experiment, and rule 82's lesson applies in reverse here: a high-profile PMID attached to a claim is not evidence that anyone reasoned about that claim in that paper. NOTE ALSO that 25593309 is a HeLa/U2OS DNA-damage system and 34850113 a herpesvirus latency system - neither is haematopoietic (rule 73).
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- A KSHV latency paper is a stranger source for a localisation code than it looks, but it is not an error: it shows MLL1 recruited to a specific chromatinised DNA template, which is a stronger nuclear demonstration than bulk staining. The criticism to keep is narrow - UniProt's citation set for this field tells you which papers a curator happened to process, not which experiment established the fact. Tan M et al. 2021
- E_q72_kmt2a_loc3strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
KMT2A IS NOT ONE PROTEIN IN THE NUCLEUS, IT IS TWO THAT CLIP TOGETHER. MLL is normally cleaved at two conserved sites (D/GADD and D/GVDD) into N-terminal p320 (N320) and C-terminal p180 (C180), which form a stable complex that LOCALISES TO A SUBNUCLEAR COMPARTMENT; the FYRN domain of N320 binds the FYRC and SET domains of C180; and DISRUPTING THAT INTERACTION markedly decreases N320 levels and REDISTRIBUTES C180 TO A DIFFUSE NUCLEAR PATTERN. The same paper predicts that MLL fusion proteins of leukaemia, which cannot complex with C180, have their stability conferred by the fusion partner instead.
Proteolytic cleavage of MLL generates a complex of N- and C-terminal fragments that confers protein stability and subnuclear localization. · Hsieh JJ, Ernst P, Erdjument-Bromage H, Tempst P, Korsmeyer SJ · Mol Cell Biol 2003What this evidence cannot show
Abstract read in full; full text not read. ALREADY LOAD-BEARING IN THIS GRAPH - cited in 5 entries, and localization-fyrn-fyrc-complex-the-only-module-change-with-a-measured-subnuclear-consequence already reasons about it in detail (brief rule 82: read that entry, do not restate it). The subnuclear compartment is NOT NAMED in the paper and has never been identified, so 'a subnuclear compartment' is the whole of what is known. The experiment is on transfected constructs, not endogenous protein, and not in a leukaemic cell. Crucially for this project: EVERY KMT2A FUSION LACKS C180, so the fusion is permanently in the state this experiment created artificially - which is a prediction, not a measurement, because nobody has fractionated a fusion against wild-type N320.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- CONTESTED, and the graph must not repeat either side as settled. Preventing taspase1 cleavage altogether left MLL1 uncleaved, more resistant to cycloheximide-chase degradation and markedly INCREASED in genome-wide chromatin occupancy, with SUBCELLULAR LOCALISATION UNCHANGED and bulk H3K4 methylation unchanged. The perturbations differ - clamp disruption versus no cleavage - but the 2019 result also inverts the stability logic: cleavage destabilises MLL1 rather than maturing it. Zhao Z et al. 2019
- E_q72_kmt2a_loc4moderate confidence 3 of 5: One strong study, or several smaller consistent ones.paper
IN U937 AND HeLa UNDER CONDITIONAL OVEREXPRESSION, the MLL AMINO TERMINUS targets the protein to the NUCLEOLUS, the interphase NUCLEAR MATRIX and MITOTIC CHROMOSOMAL SCAFFOLDS where it colocalises with topoisomerase II, and conditionally expressed MLL-AF9 and MLL-AF4 give the same punctate nucleoplasmic-plus-nucleolar pattern as a 50 kDa amino-terminal MLL fragment and as endogenous MLL. THAT IS THE SUBNUCLEAR RECORD FOR KMT2A: a compartment set attributed to the half of the protein every fusion keeps.
The amino terminus targets the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) protein to the nucleolus, nuclear matrix and mitotic chromosomal scaffolds. · Caslini C, Alarcòn AS, Hess JL, Tanaka R, Murti KG, Biondi A · Leukemia 2000What this evidence cannot show
Abstract read in full; full text not read. CITED 11 TIMES IN THIS GRAPH already - it is one of the corpus's load-bearing localisation papers (rule 82), and localization-nucleolus-kmt2a-fusion, localization-nuclear-matrix-mitotic-scaffold-kmt2a and localization-kmt2a-mllt3-the-address-is-a-kmt2a-property all reason about it. NOT A LEUKAEMIC B-LINEAGE SYSTEM: U937 is monocytic and HeLa is cervical carcinoma, and the fusions are CONDITIONALLY EXPRESSED constructs, not endogenous t(4;11) protein (rule 73). 'Nuclear matrix' is an operational extraction fraction. Because the pattern is indistinguishable between endogenous MLL, the N-terminal fragment and two different fusions, the experiment cannot attribute any compartment to the fusion as opposed to the KMT2A moiety - which is the paper's own point and is the reason this graph should spend no confidence on 'the fusion is nucleolar'.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- The endogenous experiment says the picture cannot tell the species apart. Butler and colleagues resolved chimeric HRX proteins at the predicted fusion sizes on a blot from t(4;11) and t(11;19) cells - the size dimension doing the attribution - then imaged the SAME reagents and found punctate nuclear staining of wild-type and chimeric HRX alike, 'in cells with and without 11q23 translocations', concluding in their own words that this 'precludes an immunocytochemical approach for diagnosis'. So the punctate-nuclear description of KMT2A and of its fusions rests on images that their own authors said are unattributable. Butler LH et al. 1997
- E_q72_kmt2a_loc5moderate confidence 3 of 5: One strong study, or several smaller consistent ones.paper
THE NUCLEAR ADDRESS IS CARRIED BY THE PART EVERY FUSION KEEPS, WHICH IS WHY 'THE FUSION IS NUCLEAR' IS NOT A FUSION PHENOTYPE. Asked in the hardest case - MLL-AF6, whose partner AFDN/AF6 is a cytoplasmic Ras-binding protein - immunofluorescence AND cell fractionation showed the chimera is nuclear, and the region of the MLL N-terminus responsible was mapped to A REGION CONTAINING THE AT-HOOK MOTIFS. UniProt Q03164 annotates NO nuclear-localization-signal motif on KMT2A at all (fetched 2026-09-21); the five motifs it does annotate are MBM, IBM1, IBM2, 9aaTAD and WIN.
Chimeric MLL products with a Ras binding cytoplasmic protein AF6 involved in t(6;11) (q27;q23) leukemia localize in the nucleus. · Joh T, Yamamoto K, Kagami Y, Kakuda H, Sato T, Yamamoto T, Takahashi T, Ueda R, Kaibuchi K, Seto M · Oncogene 1997What this evidence cannot show
Abstract read in full; full text not read. 1997 deletion-construct mapping in transfected cells, not endogenous protein and not a leukaemic B-lineage system (rule 73). The mapping localises a SUFFICIENT region and does not distinguish active nuclear IMPORT from nuclear RETENTION by chromatin binding - localization-nuclear-import-determinant-maps-to-the-at-hook-region already records that ambiguity and is the entry to read. The absent NLS feature in UniProt is consistent with this: the determinant is a region, not a recognisable signal sequence.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- One partner does move something. Expression of MLL-AF4 can ALTER THE SUBNUCLEAR LOCALISATION OF AF9 (PMID 14603337), and MLL-AF6-rearranged cells relocate endogenous AF6 from cytoplasm to nucleus (PMID 24695851, cited elsewhere in this graph). So the KMT2A half dominating the fusion's own address does not mean the fusion has no localisation phenotype - it means the phenotype to look for is in TRANS, on partner proteins, and that is where the only positive results are. Erfurth F et al. 2004
- Q127_celltype1strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
Committed lymphoid and myeloid cells no longer require Mll, defining the early multipotent stages of haematopoiesis as Mll-dependent; within those stages Mll maintains quiescence in HSCs, whose loss causes ectopic cell-cycle entry and depletion of the quiescent pool, and promotes proliferation in myelo-erythroid progenitors, whose loss reduces proliferation and blunts the response to cytokine-induced cell-cycle entry.
Unique and independent roles for MLL in adult hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors. · Jude CD, Climer L, Xu D, Artinger E, Fisher JK, Ernst P · Cell Stem Cell 2007What this evidence cannot show
Mouse, inducible conditional knockout of the whole Mll locus - a statement about wild-type MLL1, not about a fusion allele. ABSTRACT READ ONLY (PMC2234224 returned an empty full-text body on 2026-09-23), so no percentage, assay or n is quoted. The PubMed MCP abstract for this record silently deletes every italicised 'Mll'; the symbols here were restored by hand from the title and the PubMed web record. This paper had ZERO mentions anywhere in this corpus before cycle 89.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- A second conditional Mll allele published in the same issue reports GROSSLY NORMAL steady-state haematopoiesis in bone marrow, thymus and spleen, against this paper's fatal bone marrow failure within 3 weeks. The quiescence direction agrees across the two; the severity does not. See concept-two-founding-mll-conditional-knockouts-disagree-about-steady-state-blood. McMahon KA et al. 2007
- Q127_cellstate1strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
Mll-null embryos survive to E16.5 with reduced HSC numbers and a greatly reduced quiescent fraction, and those HSCs cannot compete in transplantation; adult conditionally Mll-deleted bone marrow is highly compromised in competitive reconstitution despite grossly normal steady-state haematopoiesis.
Mll has a critical role in fetal and adult hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal. · McMahon KA, Hiew SY, Hadjur S, Veiga-Fernandes H, Menzel U, Price AJ, Kioussis D, Williams O, Brady HJM · Cell Stem Cell 2007What this evidence cannot show
Mouse; abstract read, full text not opened. 'Greatly reduced' is the authors' wording and no percentage appears in the abstract. The fetal result is a constitutive null and the adult result a conditional deletion, so the two halves are not the same experiment. ZERO mentions anywhere in this corpus before cycle 89.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- The paper published immediately before this one in the same issue, from a different conditional Mll allele, reports FATAL BONE MARROW FAILURE within three weeks of deletion rather than grossly normal steady-state haematopoiesis. The two agree on loss of quiescence and on competitive failure and disagree on whole-animal severity. Jude CD et al. 2007
- Q127_cellstate2established confidence 5 of 5: Multiple independent lines of evidence; treated as settled in the field.paper
Wild-type MLL protein is degraded biphasically through the cell cycle, by SCF(Skp2) at S phase and APC(Cdc20) at late M, giving two expression peaks; abolishing the peaks produces G1/S and M-phase defects and overexpression blocks S-phase progression; degradation initiates within the N-terminal approximately 1,400 amino acids, and the tested prevalent MLL fusions are RESISTANT to that degradation.
Bimodal degradation of MLL by SCFSkp2 and APCCdc20 assures cell cycle execution: a critical regulatory circuit lost in leukemogenic MLL fusions. · Liu H, Cheng EH-Y, Hsieh JJ-D · Genes Dev 2007What this evidence cannot show
HeLa and leukaemia lines; abstract read, full text not opened. Cited in 24 entries of this corpus already, and in none of them was this entry - the conclusion is not new to the graph, only to gene-kmt2a. The fusion-resistance claim is about 'tested prevalent MLL fusions' and the abstract does not enumerate them; cell-state-unsynchronisable-cell-cycle holds the detail, including that MLL-AF4 protein does not fluctuate through the cycle in SEM.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- Cell-cycle control of MLL abundance is not the only cell-cycle circuit this protein sits in, and the two are sometimes conflated: taspase1 cleavage of MLL and MLL2 is separately required for cell-cycle progression, with MLL targeting E2Fs for cyclin expression and H3K4 trimethylation reduced at Cyclin E1 and E2 in Taspase1-null cells. An entry that records only the degradation circuit understates how much of the fusion's cell-cycle abnormality is attributable to loss of processing rather than loss of degradation. Takeda S et al. 2006
- Q127_epi1strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
In Mll1-null versus wild-type mouse embryonic fibroblasts, Mll1 is required for H3K4 trimethylation of LESS THAN 5% of the promoters carrying that modification; the affected genes are enriched for developmental regulators including Hox genes and show matched decreases in RNA polymerase II recruitment and expression, while loss of MLL3/MLL4 and/or the Set1 complexes has little to no effect on H3K4 methylation of Hox loci.
Global analysis of H3K4 methylation defines MLL family member targets and points to a role for MLL1-mediated H3K4 methylation in the regulation of transcriptional initiation by RNA polymerase II. · Wang P, Lin C, Smith ER, Guo H, Sanderson BW, Wu M, Gogol M, Alexander T, Seidel C, Wiedemann LM, Ge K, Krumlauf R, Shilatifard A · Mol Cell Biol 2009What this evidence cannot show
Mouse embryonic fibroblasts - not haematopoietic, no fusion. The <5% figure is a promoter-level call on 2009-era platforms and its denominator is not given in the abstract; abstract read, full text not opened. This bounds what 'KMT2A is an H3K4 methyltransferase' means in a cell; it does not say the enzyme is unimportant. ZERO mentions anywhere in this corpus before cycle 89.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- A pharmacological experiment points the other way in the cells this project cares about: MM-401, which blocks MLL1's H3K4 methyltransferase activity via the WDR5 interface, blocks MLL-cell proliferation with arrest, apoptosis and myeloid differentiation and no general marrow toxicity. An activity required at under 5% of promoters in fibroblasts is nonetheless a viable target in MLL-rearranged cells, so the bound must not be read as 'the enzyme does not matter'. Cao F et al. 2014
- Q127_epi2established confidence 5 of 5: Multiple independent lines of evidence; treated as settled in the field.paper
The SET domain, and thus the histone methyltransferase activity of MLL1, is dispensable for maintaining haematopoietic stem cells and for supporting MLL-AF9-driven leukaemogenesis; on Mll1 deletion it is H4K16 ACETYLATION that is selectively depleted at MLL1 target genes alongside reduced transcription, recruited MOF activity rather than intrinsic MLL1 methyltransferase activity maintains those genes, and SIRT1 inhibition is sufficient to prevent the loss.
The histone methyltransferase activity of MLL1 is dispensable for hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis. · Mishra BP, Zaffuto KM, Artinger EL, Org T, Mikkola HKA, Cheng C, Djabali M, Ernst P · Cell Reports 2014What this evidence cannot show
Mouse; abstract read, full text not opened. 'Dispensable' means a SET-deletion allele was not limiting in those two assays; a SET deletion can perturb folding as well as catalysis. This PMID is cited in 32 entries of this corpus - including subtraction-kmt2a-set-domain, mark-h4k16ac and mechanism-set-loss-neomorph-not-haploinsufficiency - and was in none of gene-kmt2a. It is the single most-cited source this entry was missing.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- CONTESTED BY A PHARMACOLOGICAL EXPERIMENT. MM-401, which blocks the MLL1-WDR5 interaction and so MLL1 H3K4 methyltransferase activity specifically, blocks proliferation of MLL cells with cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis and myeloid differentiation and no general toxicity to normal bone marrow or non-MLL cells, with a transcriptome change resembling MLL1 deletion. A SET deletion and an assembly blockade are different perturbations, so the two results may both stand, but this graph must not state 'the activity is dispensable' unqualified. Cao F et al. 2014
- Q127_epi3moderate confidence 3 of 5: One strong study, or several smaller consistent ones.paper
H3K4 trimethylation at circadian promoters is rhythmic and follows the profile of circadian H3 acetylation; MLL1 is essential for circadian transcription and for cyclic H3K4 trimethylation, is in a complex with CLOCK-BMAL1, contributes to its rhythmic recruitment, and fails to interact with CLOCK-delta19.
The histone methyltransferase MLL1 permits the oscillation of circadian gene expression. · Katada S, Sassone-Corsi P · Nat Struct Mol Biol 2010What this evidence cannot show
Mouse and cultured cells, wild-type MLL1, no leukaemia and no fusion; abstract read, full text not opened; single paper with no replication identified in this beat, hence moderate. Recorded because UniProt and HPA both list 'Biological rhythms' among KMT2A's biological processes and this corpus of 2,383 entries had ZERO mentions of this paper and no circadian content about KMT2A at all.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- Bounded by the same study that limits MLL1's H3K4me3 requirement to under 5% of promoters: a rhythm requiring MLL1 is a rhythm at a small promoter set, and nothing shows that any leukaemia-relevant locus, HOXA included, is in it. The relevance of the circadian result to this project is therefore a hypothesis, not a finding. Wang P et al. 2009
- Q127_celltype2strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.database
For KMT2A (ENSG00000118058) the Human Protein Atlas records RNA tissue specificity 'Low tissue specificity' with distribution 'Detected in all', blood cell specificity 'Low immune cell specificity', blood lineage specificity 'Low lineage specificity' and single-cell 'Low cell type specificity'; the antibody-based data call it Tissue enriched with bone marrow the top tissue and Cell type enriched with hepatocytes the top cell type, on antibodies CAB017794, CAB024270 and HPA044910 with IH reliability 'Enhanced' and IF reliability 'Supported', subcellular main location Nucleoplasm with additional Cytosol.
Human Protein Atlas - KMT2A (ENSG00000118058), machine-readable gene record · Human Protein Atlas consortium · proteinatlas.org 2026What this evidence cannot show
Fetched 2026-09-23 from the per-gene JSON endpoint, which does NOT return the HPA release version, so this row can drift silently and must be refetched before any value is requoted. RNA calls are consensus transcriptomics and protein calls are antibody staining scored by eye - different instruments. The hepatocyte call has no support in the haematopoietic literature and points away from the bone-marrow call; two discordant calls from one instrument are an antibody signature, not a biological one. Staining intensities are arbitrary units, not concentrations.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- HPA's own two instruments disagree for this gene. The RNA data say Low tissue specificity and Detected in all; the antibody data say Tissue enriched in bone marrow and Cell type enriched in hepatocytes. The hepatocyte call has no support in the literature this project reads, and the safest reading is that the antibody-based tissue calls should not be used as evidence of abundance at all - including the bone-marrow one that happens to agree with the genetics. Human Protein Atlas consortium 2026
- Q127_cellstate3strong confidence 4 of 5: Replicated in peer-reviewed work by more than one group.paper
The Mll-dependent transcriptional network in haematopoietic stem cells extends well beyond clustered Hox genes, contains many characterised regulators of self-renewal, and comprises target genes that are both dependent on and independent of the MLL cofactor menin; PRDM16 was uniquely effective at partially rescuing Mll-deficient haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.
An MLL-dependent network sustains hematopoiesis. · Artinger EL, Mishra BP, Zaffuto KM, Li BE, Chung EKY, Moore AW, Chen Y, Cheng C, Ernst P · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013What this evidence cannot show
Mouse; abstract read, full text not opened. The menin-dependent versus menin-independent partition is the load-bearing part for this project and the abstract does not name which genes fall on which side, so no gene-level assignment may be taken from here. Cited once in this corpus before cycle 89 (collab-ernst-colorado) and never in gene-kmt2a.
Evidence that argues against this (1)
- The menin-independent half of this network is the part that matters for the drug and this study does not enumerate it. The menin knockout itself reports that HoxA9 expression falls only MODESTLY in menin-deficient HSCs, which suggests the menin-dependent portion of the normal HSC programme is smaller than the fusion-centric account assumes. Maillard I et al. 2009
UNBOUNDED AT ESTABLISHED: the claim that the residues where the gene breaks have never been resolved is a PDB-coverage statement with no recorded date. Cheap to bound, and load-bearing for the breakpoint beat.
class I HDAC inhibition relieves an inhibitory function of wild-type MLL, overriding MLL-AF4 at ALOX5
maps breakpoints onto UniProt Q03164 domain architecture
AFF1 is the commonest 3' partner of KMT2A in infant B-ALL
AFDN is the commonest cytoplasmic KMT2A fusion partner, t(6;11)(q27;q23)
EPS15/AF1p is the 3' partner in KMT2A::EPS15, t(1;11)(p32;q23)
- ← part ofSpliced KMT2A fusions join to partner exon 2 — with the per-partner counts, and a correction
partner-side junction rule for the KMT2A recombinome: the most 3' KMT2A exon splices to partner exon 2
both act through HOX-cofactor transcriptional programmes in B-lineage leukaemia
comparator: unlike KMT2A, BCR contributes a compact crystallised oligomerisation domain with exact coordinates
GRCh38 span chr11:118436456-118526832, 90377 bp, used as the permutation domain
TOP2B-dependent etoposide-induced double-strand breakage at the KMT2A locus
germline tag-SNP study found MLL and EP300 variants associated with childhood ALL and no TOP2A variant
site-specific cleavage in the KMT2A breakpoint cluster region in primary newborn and adult progenitors
protects the KMT2A locus from TOP2-induced breakage; loss increases translocation
RAD51 occupancy measured AT the 11q23 translocation breakpoint hotspot after etoposide; excessive under ATM deficiency
404 CTCF sites preferentially break-prone in KMT2A-rearranged patients; KMT2A region 3.2-fold above non-fusion
wild-type KMT2A is an ATR-S516 S-phase checkpoint effector degraded biphasically by SCF-Skp2 and APC-Cdc20; fusions act as dominant negatives on that step
SNL-1 (aa 388-432) and SNL-2 (aa 1051-1089) lie within the N-terminal region retained by every KMT2A fusion
the index fusion's 5' gene; KMT2A-r arm mean gene effect -0.811 against -0.206 across all 1,258 lines
the rule-66 pair that makes every MLL2/MLL4 citation ambiguous
menin-KMT2A interaction reported destabilised by XPO1 inhibition
- ← related toFANCF — FA core complex; rank 11 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toFANCI — ID2 module; rank 15 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toFANCA — FA core complex; rank 20 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toBRIP1 — downstream effector; rank 22 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toFANCL — FA core complex; rank 26 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toFANCG — FA core complex; rank 27 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toUBE2T — E2; rank 33 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
- ← related toFAAP100 — FA core complex; rank 36 of 8,269 for KMT2A-selective dependency, and no KMT2A literature at all
no published record links this gene to KMT2A or MLL: a counted, alias-searched, title-checked absence
R-loops are mapped by DRIP-seq in MLL-rearranged AML, but as productive architecture rather than damage
zero PubMed records for MED23 plus CRSP3, KIAA1216, DRIP130, SUR2 and ARC130 against KMT2A or MLL — the prior zero-record claim survives the alias expansion
five of eleven candidate 5' donor exon boundaries end in lysine, so trypsin cuts at the junction
- ← related toThe protein nobody can attribute by antibody is the one mass spectrometry finds most easily
the reciprocal junction retains KMT2A 1407-3969 including both taspase1 sites
the epitope both the wild-type protein and the direct fusion retain
Counter-evidence (Leibowitz 2021, PMID 33846636): Cas9 double-strand breaks initiate chromothripsis via micronuclei and chromosome bridges, shown at a clinically relevant locus in clinically relevant cells -- a two-cut, two-chromosome fusion-disruption design is the configuration most likely to trigger it, in the exact cell compartment the disease arises in
Supporting rebuttal recorded as counter-evidence (Horton 2005, PMID 16230385): Tet-off MLL-ENL immortalised myeloid progenitors terminally differentiate or die on fusion withdrawal with specific loss of Hoxa4-Hoxa11, so an MLL fusion is continuously load-bearing once the state exists -- murine, retroviral, MLL-ENL, which is the gap the human t(4;11) degron experiment closes
TAF-I beta acidic region binds the MLL N-terminal region retained in every fusion
trans-regulation by ubiquitin promotes MLL1 activity for all three H3K4 methylation states; MLL3 does not respond
combined KMT2A/KMT2B knockout abolishes the menin-inhibitor-induced MHC-I increase
presents KMT2A 747-755 phosphopeptide from the retained portion every fusion keeps
MLL1 binds the cd274 promoter and catalyses H3K4me3 to activate PD-L1 - in pancreatic cancer, by SET-domain activity the fusion has lost
Counter-evidence: MLL1 SET-domain catalysis is dispensable for MLL-AF9 leukemogenesis, which undercuts the Win-motif/WDR5 rationale shared by SETD1A and MLL1 complexes
Counter-evidence: the MLL1 SET domain that RBBP5/WRAD stimulates is dispensable for MLL-AF9 leukemogenesis, and KMT2A fusions do not retain it
- ← related toASH2L — the WRAD subunit that has DPY30's essentiality profile and none of its co-dependency signal
Counter-evidence: same objection as RBBP5 — MLL1 methyltransferase activity is not required for leukemogenesis, so the ASH2L catalytic role is not a target rationale here
- ← part ofDPY30 — the smallest COMPASS subunit, and the only one that behaves like a selective dependency
WRAD core subunit of the MLL1/KMT2A methyltransferase complex
PAF1C binds MLL via CxxC-flanking sequences retained in all fusions
binds the MLL1 SET domain - which every KMT2A fusion loses, so this is a wild-type contact only
essential component of the MLL-EEN complex via Sam68; not demonstrated for KMT2A::AFF1
- ← depends onKMT2A::MLLT3 (MLL-AF9), t(9;11)(p21.3;q23.3)
the retained wild-type KMT2A allele is required for MLL-AF9 leukemogenesis and maintenance, and the fusion needs a prebound wild-type MLL1 complex for stable HOXA9 association
- supports →KMT2A::AFF1 (MLL-AF4), t(4;11)(q21;q23)
the intact allele is not a bystander: MLL1 fusion proteins lack the PHD fingers and require a prebound wild-type MLL1 complex for stable HOXA9 association
- ← related toPPIE (CyP33) — the off-switch the fusion throws away, and the reason PHD3 reinsertion kills transformation
corrective: H3K4me3/2 and the CyP33 RRM bind different PHD3 surfaces and can occupy them simultaneously in a ternary complex (Wang 2010), so the switch is not simply mutually exclusive
- ← depends onProximity-labelling map of KMT2A::AFF1 — the experiment nobody has run in twenty years of interactome work
the wild-type-allele control is confounded: the fusion requires a prebound wild-type MLL1 complex at the same loci, so both tagged lines label one neighbourhood
t(11;16)(q23;p13.3) KMT2A::CREBBP - the CBP bromodomain and HAT domain fused to the MLL N-terminus are both required for transformation
the LEDGF IBD binds a conserved disordered IBM shared with PogZ, JPO2, IWS1 and MED1, and MLL1 IBM phosphorylation switches the affinity - a selectivity problem and a regulated, multivalent contact
(D/E)HxY HCF-binding motif at KMT2A aa 1799-1802 — wild-type KMT2A only
CyP33 RRM binds KMT2A PHD3 at ~2 uM (ITC), competitively with H3K4me3
MOF zinc finger to the MLL1 C-terminal region; reciprocal co-IP, cosedimentation, cotransfection
CBP KIX (581-687) to the KMT2A TAD (2829-2883), five hydrophobic residues critical
RUNX1 protein interacts with the reciprocal AF4-MLL complex, not with the der(11) product
- ← fuses withAFF3 (LAF4) — the AFF-family scaffold of SEC-L3, and a KMT2A fusion partner in its own right
KMT2A::AFF3, t(2;11)(q11;q23) — AFF3 is itself a recurrent 3' partner
- ← fuses withMLLT6 (AF17) — the fourth KMT2A fusion partner inside DotCom, and the only one no cell needs
KMT2A::MLLT6, t(11;17)(q23;q21) — a fusion partner, but not in t(4;11)
PAF1C-KMT2A contact at the retained CxxC-flanking region; not attributed to SKIC8 specifically
reverse direction: an enhancer RNA (Myrlin) from the -81 kb Myb enhancer recruits wild-type KMT2A to the Myb locus; its loss reduces CDK9 and Pol II and causes Pol II pausing in Myb exon 1
NPM1c binds directly to specific chromatin targets co-occupied by KMT2A (MLL1).
NSL depletion lowers H3K4me2 as well as H4K16ac at a shared promoter, placing NSL upstream of MLL/SET complexes.
Five NUP98 fusions interact with both MLL1 and NSL, and MLL1 is required for NUP98-HOXA9 proliferation.
CGBP/CXXC1 co-purifies with MLL1, co-localises with it, and its knockdown reduces MLL1 recruitment and H3K4me3 at HoxA7.
METTL3 is transcriptionally activated by MLL in MLL-rearranged AML
KMT2A is a positive control at the 0.0th null percentile alongside MEN1
KMT2A IBM1 124-133 and IBM2 147-152
KMT2A WIN motif 3762-3767, Arg3765
KMT2A residues 23-40
cleavage sites after D2666 and D2718
CXXC 1147-1203 on unmethylated CpG DNA, Kd 44 uM
PHD3 1564-1628 reads H3K4me3, Kd 4.3 uM with the bromodomain
PHD3 1586-1628 binds the CyP33 RRM, Kd 14.7 uM
KMT2A TAD 2842-2858 on the CBP KIX domain
KMT2A 747-755 phosphopeptide presented on HLA-B*07:02
16 OF 91 PARTNERS BAIT-SUPPORTED: most of what the graph records as KMT2A's interactome is other people's by-products.
CARM1 makes the mark that the C-TERMINAL MLL region reads - Kawabe 2012 defined that region as a reader domain for arginine-methylated proteins such as Pax7, and every KMT2A fusion deletes it
Hub entry whose partner-count claim conflates recurrent drivers with single-patient observations.
the cleanest mechanistic CONTRAST in the analogous-families set: KMT2A fusions matter because the chimera gains an activity, HMGA2 rearrangements because the transcript loses its 3' UTR and escapes let-7 - same cytogenetics, opposite kind of mechanism
binds the WIN motif, which sits in the half of KMT2A the fusion throws away
opposes KMT2A function rather than partnering with it
the same gene, rearranged, drives the myeloid form as well as the lymphoblastic one
the verdict that the fusion is a gain of function, not a loss
what normal KMT2A and menin actually do, which is the safety argument
top correlate with MEN1 at r=0.58, the method's positive control
strongest human loss-of-function constraint in the set (LOEUF 0.07)
t(3;11)(q28;q23) in acute monoblastic leukaemia; breakpoint in intron 8 of both genes, MLL exon 8 to LPP exon 9, contributing LIM 2 (474-534) and LIM 3 (535-603). MLL exons 1-8 retain the CXXC/MT domain; the SET domain (exons 34-36) is lost.
KMT2A scores -0.8113 with a -0.5571 group difference - real and selective, but weaker than MEN1 in the same lines; note CRISPR KMT2A knockout hits the wild-type allele and the fusion's 5' portion together
KMT2A own partner list is the worst covered bait at 49/101, across all three measurements
43 of the unrankable partners are KMT2A's, including OGT at r=0.138 in leukaemia lines - inside the noise
KMT2A remains the worst-covered bait and contributes 8 of the 34 never-read partners
KMT2A is recovered by 25 of 50 proximity baits, which bounds what any of its individual proximity partners can support
KMT2A is 3,969 aa and reached by 25 of 50 proximity baits, which is what its size predicts
KMT2A is not a promiscuous proximity prey in general - 0th percentile in three of five scoreable publications; the K562 map is the outlier
the eviction quartiles this control tests are defined on KMT2A-fusion FLAG occupancy
MLL1 ChIP paired with MEN1 across the same five-drug arm
FLAG occupancy of the KMT2A fusion is the measured channel
FLAG occupancy of the KMT2A fusion is the measured channel
the genomic distribution of KMT2A-fusion occupancy, stratified by parental signal
strata are defined by parental KMT2A-fusion occupancy
KMT2A 0.97 to 0.92 under the exclusion; its top tissue was thymus
t(4;11)(q21;q23), the commonest infant fusion
contributes the 5' half: DNA targeting plus the menin grip
the brake the break throws away
The naive ligand count for KMT2A is 14 and is wrong: DNA from the CXXC complex, the SAH cofactor, PEG and a detergent. The real count is 4, the MLL1 SET-domain inhibitor series.
WILD-TYPE MLL1 BOOKMARKS MITOTIC CHROMATIN, a function separable from its H3K4 methylation output.
anti-tag coIP in HEK293T, IntAct MI:0914 association, MI-score 0.35 - below IntAct's own 0.6 threshold, one publication (OpenCell, PMID 35271311), and not resolved to either side of the breakpoint
THE MOST DIRECT INSTRUMENT FOR THE STANDING PRIORITY, never applied to the fusion: no proximity-labelling experiment on any KMT2A fusion is retrievable.
KMT2A's own processed chain Q03164-PRO_0000390949 appeared as a partner of another bait and was discarded by my first parser; recovered by accession readback
menin clamps the KMT2A N-terminal MBM1 motif (Kd ~53 nM)
KMT2A residues 4-15, retained in every fusion
98% of breaks fall in this region
1.4% by PCR, ~6% by targeted sequencing
- ← related toHow many children this affects
KMT2A rearrangement in 70-80% of infant ALL
- ← related toWhat is a fusion gene?
worked example of a fusion parent gene
how the break and rejoin happen at this locus
the neo-surface created where the two genes meet
CXXC domain, retained in every fusion
closest paralogue; both carry an N-terminal menin-binding motif and no other KMT2 family member does
- ← related toKMT2E (MLL5) - the family member with a dead SET domain, and the exclusion from COMPASS is justified
KMT2-family member with a structurally dead SET domain; excluded from COMPASS on catalysis, not on leukaemia relevance
- ← related toOpen ground: the questions in this graph that nobody in the landscape appears to be working on
Counter-evidence (Yan 2026, PMID 41501053): open-ground area 3 is not untested -- AKAP95 condensates co-condense with the MLL1 translocated fragment, are required for MLL-rearranged leukemogenesis and are already drugged with a phase-separation-disrupting peptide; and the proposed endogenous-tagging FRAP experiment cannot label the fusion without labelling wild-type KMT2A or AFF1
mapped the MLL-dependent transcriptional network sustaining normal haematopoietic stem cells beyond HOX genes
LEDGF is required for wild-type KMT2A retention, not the fusion's
CXXC-driven targeting is the fusion's own, LEDGF's H3K36 arm belongs to wild-type KMT2A
Counter-evidence (Liu 2007, PMID 17908926): MLL degradation initiates in the N-terminal ~1400 aa retained by every fusion, yet prevalent MLL fusions are resistant to that degradation — the prior on drug-induced fusion turnover should fall to ~0.1
three AT-hooks at 169-180, 217-227, 301-309 of UniProt Q03164
CXXC zinc finger at 1147-1195; PDB 2KKF covers 1147-1203
MLL/KMT2A localises to the pericentriolar material and the midbody, with a Wiedemann-Steiner patient-cell phenotype
wild-type MLL1 maintains H4K16ac at its target promoters via recruited MOF; its own SET domain is dispensable
written by the KMT2/COMPASS family, whose MLL1 SET domain is dispensable for MLL-AF9 leukaemogenesis
no H3.3 measurement exists in any KMT2A-rearranged system; bounded by 1 abstract record and 19 full texts
Counter-evidence (Okuda 2014, PMID 24465000): fusion targeting needs non-methylated CpG AND H3K36me2/3, so target choice tracks genes that are already transcriptionally active, not only an inherited methylome.
Counter-account (Okuda 2014, PMID 24465000): KMT2A fusions recruit coactivators to previously active CpG-rich promoters via two chromatin-reading modules, which explains much of the 'enhancer' signal as a consequence of prior promoter activity.
- ← related toDataset: PDB and AlphaFold - the structural census, including the two absences that shape every plan
AlphaFold returns HTTP 404 for Q03164 and local fragment prediction is not a clean substitute: AlphaFold's confidence collapses on intrinsically disordered regions (Ruff & Pappu, PMID 34418423), which is most of KMT2A outside its folded modules.
Counter-evidence (Van Belle 2021, PMID 33477970): the PSIP1 paralogue HRP-2/HDGFL2 carries both PWWP and IBD and binds MLL through a conserved interface that is LESS menin-dependent than MLL-LEDGF, leaving a menin-independent IBD-family route to MLL that an IBD-selective ligand would not close.
supplies the methyl donor for the SET domain and for the fusion-driven hypermethylated state
frames whether the fusion programme causes or merely coexists with the metabolic phenotype
- ← part ofThe KMT2A::MLLT1 chimeric protein: exactly what survives the join on each side, in residue numbers
5' contribution: MBM, IBM1/2, AT-hooks, CXXC (UniProt Q03164)
Q03164 coordinates, fetched and read back 2026-09-20
DOWNSTREAM, NOT A PARTNER: no KMT2A::MYC fusion is claimed; MYC is carried here as an effector of the fusion programme's output.
IKK inhibition strips wild-type MLL and H3K4me3 from Hoxa9/Meis1
retained KMT2A N-terminus (MBM1/2, AT-hooks, CXXC)
t(X;11)(q24;q23) and cryptic ins(X;11)
retained KMT2A N-terminus
- fuses with →SEPTIN9 (septin-9 / MSF) — cytoskeletal GTPase, KMT2A fusion partner in t(11;17)(q23;q25)
t(11;17)(q23;q25)
KMT2A::SEPTIN6, t(X;11)(q24;q23)
- ← fuses withSEPTIN9 (septin-9 / MSF) — cytoskeletal GTPase, KMT2A fusion partner in t(11;17)(q23;q25)
KMT2A::SEPTIN9, t(11;17)(q23;q25)
retained KMT2A N-terminus
t(11;22)(q23;q11.2)
retained KMT2A N-terminus
t(2;11)(q37;q23)
retained KMT2A N-terminus including CXXC
t(4;11)(q21;q23), impersonating KMT2A::AFF1
retained KMT2A N-terminus
t(10;11)(p11.2;q23)
nuclear import is supplied entirely by the retained KMT2A N-terminus
wild-type MLL1 is the borrowed cofactor
- ← fuses withNUP98::KMT2A, inv(11)(p15q23) — the NUP98 fusion that contains KMT2A and is menin-inhibitor RESISTANT
NUP98 FG repeats to almost the entire KMT2A ORF, exon 1 deleted
GLFG-dependent binding of wild-type MLL1 by five KMT2A-free NUP98 fusions
MBM-deleted endogenous Kmt2a allele as the decisive reagent
- ← related to756 children with 11q23/MLL-rearranged AML: 5-year EFS runs from 11% to 92% depending on the partner
outcome varies by which partner joins the retained KMT2A N-terminus
whether KMT2A fusions behave as one clinical class
retained KMT2A N-terminus: AT-hooks and CXXC (MBM1/2 retained by position, not stated by the source)
t(11;14)(q23;q24), two published cases
- ← part ofKMT2A::MLLT11 (MLL-AF1q), t(1;11)(q21;q23) — 28 patients, and not one functional experiment
retained KMT2A N-terminus (MBM1/2, AT-hooks, CXXC)
t(1;11)(q21;q23); 28 patients, rank 10 of all direct KMT2A partners
1368 N-terminal residues of HRX/MLL: AT-hook, snRNP and methyltransferase-homology regions
t(1;11)(p32;q23); 55 patients, rank 8, 22 of them infant ALL
retained KMT2A N-terminus (MBM1/2, AT-hooks, CXXC)
- fuses with →GAS7 — growth-arrest-specific F-BAR protein, the second pillar of the forced-oligomerisation model
cryptic t(11;17)(q23;p13); 3 patients in 3401
retained KMT2A N-terminus (MBM1/2, AT-hooks, CXXC)
- fuses with →MLLT6 (AF17) — the fourth KMT2A fusion partner inside DotCom, and the only one no cell needs
t(11;17)(q23;q12-q21); 27 patients, rank 11, adult-AML-weighted
retained KMT2A N-terminus (MBM1/2, AT-hooks, CXXC)
t(11;19)(q23;p13.2); 5 patients, all AML, 4 infant; recurrent in infant AML
KMT2A intron 19/20 to exon 24, DCAL exon numbering
inv(11)(q23.3q23.3), 30 patients, rank 9 of all KMT2A partners; minor BCR only
5' KMT2A through the minor BCR: AT-hooks, MBM1/2, CXXC AND the complete PHD1-3 cluster, bromodomain and ePHD4
t(11;15)(q23;q21), 3 patients in 3401; minor BCR
- ← part ofKMT2A::USP8, t(11;15)(q23;q21) - three patients, and the second instance of a deubiquitinase partner
5' KMT2A through the minor BCR, retaining PHD1-3, bromodomain and ePHD4
- fuses with →MAML2 (mastermind-like 2) - the Notch co-activator that is a KMT2A partner in leukaemia and in thymoma
inv(11)(q21q23), 4 patients in the recombinome and at least 8 individually reported; also the recurrent fusion of type B2/B3 thymoma
KMT2A exon 7-11, i.e. a MAJOR-BCR fusion: AT-hooks, MBM1/2 and CXXC retained, PHD fingers lost
KMT2A rearrangement is over-represented in paediatric ambiguous-lineage leukaemia and concentrates in the poor-outcome hybrid-treatment group
- ← related toThree pairs of twins who both got leukaemia: the patients who proved the fusion happens before birth
clonal non-constitutional KMT2A rearrangement identical within each twin pair; breakpoints fall in introns across about 10 kb and differ between individuals
LOEUF 0.070 - the organismal warning against whole-protein KMT2A strategies
LEDGF IBD binds the KMT2A IBM (111-160); phospho-gated at S136/S142
- ← related toS821 is not phosphorylated in any dataset we could query: the 14-3-3 motif candidate is dead as stated
phosphosite audit of Q03164
- ← regulatesCSNK2A1 (casein kinase 2 alpha) - the one kinase that turns up three separate times in KMT2A biology
phosphorylates S136/S142 (retained) and T2724/S2726 (lost)
174 modified residues on Q03164 split at the breakpoint
ATR phosphorylation of S516 blocks SCF(Skp2)-mediated degradation
counted absence over all seven 14-3-3 paralogue aliases
SET interacts with both wild-type KMT2A and the fusion; interface unmapped
Cks1/Cks2 bind both MllN and MllC; retained/lost undetermined
the beat's index over KMT2A phospho-contacts
written by KMT2A's SET domain, which the fusion loses
KMT2A appears as prey in twenty-five of fifty bait neighbourhoods
- ← co-occurs withZRANB2 - the only bait in any published proximity experiment that reaches AFF1, AFF4, ELL, MLLT1, CCNT1, KMT2A and DOT1L at once
KMT2A recovered as prey
KMT2A recovered as prey
wild-type KMT2A recovered by 25 of 50 baits
KMT2A recovered by six 14-3-3 isoforms; YWHAG reproduces across two studies
KMT2A recovered as prey by eleven transcription-factor BioID baits
- ← co-occurs withGPKOW - a G-patch spliceosomal protein whose BioID neighbourhood contains AFF4, ELL, ENL, CDK9, KMT2A and DOT1L
recovered as prey in the GPKOW BioID2 neighbourhood (proximity, not binding)
- ← co-occurs withPPIL4 - a spliceosomal cyclophilin whose BioID neighbourhood is the widest overlap with this graph's subject matter of any bait
recovered as prey in the PPIL4 BioID2 neighbourhood (proximity, not binding)
- ← co-occurs withHNRNPC - the nascent-RNA packaging protein whose BioID neighbourhood contains AFF4, ELL, ENL, CDK9, cyclin T1 and KMT2A
recovered as prey in the HNRNPC BioID2 neighbourhood (proximity, not binding)
- ← co-occurs withSMNDC1/SPF30 - a Tudor-domain splicing factor recovering ELL, ENL, KMT2A, PAF1 and KAT7
recovered as prey in the SMNDC1 BioID2 neighbourhood (proximity, not binding)
- ← co-occurs withAGGF1 - an angiogenic G-patch protein whose BioID neighbourhood contains ELL, KMT2A, LEDGF, WDR5, KAT7 and RNA polymerase II
recovered as prey in the AGGF1 BioID2 neighbourhood (proximity, not binding)
CONTRAST, not analogy: the 3' partner of the KMT2A-WILD-TYPE infant B-ALL. No reported contact with KMT2A, menin, the MBM, CXXC or the WIN site; the two fusion families share an age band, a disease and a posterior-HOXA output and share neither a mark nor a mechanism
MLL1 is named in the PAFc/HOXA9/STAT5 unit activating PRMT5; no physical contact reported
loss of promoter H3R2me2a ENHANCES KMT2A binding; the mark restrains it
H3K9me1/2 balance at the KMT2A LOCUS controls its amplification and rearrangement
H3K9me1 level across the KMT2A breakpoint cluster region gates copy gain and break-apart
KDM3B occupies the KMT2A breakpoint cluster region and its loss causes site-specific copy gain and break-apart
site-specific KMT2A copy gain and break-apart, transient at 12 h and inherited by 72 h
produces site-specific KMT2A copy gains and break-apart in RPE, KG1a, a primary AML line, an AML organoid and cord-blood CD34+ HSPCs
loss of PROMOTER H3R2me2a enhances wild-type KMT2A binding and H3K4me3 deposition
allele-resolved occupancy: the substrate-side gate should restrain the SET/WIN/PHD-competent wild-type allele and leave the fusion untouched
BOUNDED ABSENCE: H4K20[tiab] AND KMT2A[tiab] = 0 (parsed zero); H4K20[tiab] AND MLL[tiab] = 1, and that one record is a NEGATIVE - ASH1L's distribution does not resemble H4K20
one HeLa S3 tandem affinity purification (PMID 38554706); AFG2A is the BAIT and KMT2A the prey; IntAct MI-score 0.35
same single HeLa S3 TAP (PMID 38554706); AFG2B bait, KMT2A prey; MI-score 0.35
two INDEPENDENT BioID studies, two labs (36931259 HEK293 Flp-In; 39251607 K562); YWHAG bait, KMT2A prey in both; MI-score 0.41. The only row pair in the read queue that is not one screening programme seen twice
largest absolute gap: 218 PSICQUIC rows against 376 from IntAct REST (58%), 158 rows unseen, including the taspase1 processed-chain identifiers Q03164-PRO_0000390949 and -390950
canonical exon 11 of ENST00000534358, inside the major breakpoint cluster region
UNREAD LEAD: PMID 36142452 reports TRIB3 interfering with the MLL complex in breast cancer cells - title-level only, recorded as a lead not as evidence
HRX/MLL proteins interact directly with GADD34 by yeast two-hybrid and co-IP in human cells (PMID 10490642, 1999, transfection/overexpression, never reproduced)
canonical exon 11 of ENST00000534358 is the break-hotspot element
the KMT2A BCR, element, exon 11 and 90 kb gene span carry zero H3K9me2 domain coverage in 3 of 3 CD34+ ChIPs
inside Ensembl canonical KMT2A exon 11 (ENST00000534358), 3.8 kb from the DCAL functional cut point
seven KMT2A intervals, all NOT OCCUPIED in both lines
the element lies inside canonical KMT2A exon 11
the whole 90 kb gene body is elevated, not the anchor
KMT2A's 90 kb body carries 0.77-0.94x the H3K9me3 of 385 gene bodies matched on length and MCF-7 expression, and 0.65-0.89x of 661 matched silent ones
the H3K9 module s address at this gene is its promoter, not its breakpoint cluster region
KDM2B is a documented member of the KMT2A-fusion interactome and this is its chromatin relationship to the fusion under drug
the CXXC domain of KMT2A is retained in the fusion and is the binding activity this test scores
the MLL1 N-terminus epitope (Bethyl A300-086A) is retained in the fusion, so the track sums the fusion and wild-type KMT2A
the N-terminus is retained in every KMT2A fusion, which is why an N-terminal antibody cannot separate the fusion from wild-type KMT2A
the MLL1 N-terminus track is the one that does not move, and it cannot be attributed to the fusion
RUNX2 reciprocally binds the KMT2A promoter in KMT2A-R T-ALL, a feed-forward loop with the chimera
2025 PREPRINT: ZMYND11 interacts with and inhibits KMT2A/MLL1 in neurons; a ZRSID point mutation abrogates the contact and revumenib attenuates the loss phenotype
the Bethyl A300-086A N-terminal epitope is retained in every KMT2A fusion, so this ChIP channel is KMT2A wild-type plus fusion and separates neither
exploits the fusion's own architecture: the C-terminal SET domain is lost in every KMT2A fusion, so a C-terminal epitope is wild-type-specific by construction
the wild-type protein, measured under a menin inhibitor separately from the fusion for the first time
arm A blots endogenous KMT2A at both epitopes, so it also asks which taspase1 fragment ZMYND11 binds
MLL1 maintains HSC quiescence; loss causes ectopic cell-cycle entry (PMID 18371366)
Mll dependence is restricted to uncommitted haematopoietic compartments (PMID 18371366)
the two founding conditional knockouts of this gene, neither previously cited in the corpus
KMT2A's own H3K4me3 requirement is under 5% of marked promoters (PMID 19703992)
MLL1 is essential for cyclic H3K4me3 at circadian promoters (PMID 21113167)
MLL is the enzyme menin recruits to these promoters
MLL, not menin, is the tissue-variable element of the module
0 of 16 load-bearing sources were in this entry before cycle 89
RL3_RL3L_HUMAN, the non-symbol in the KMT2A absent list, resolved to IntAct ambiguous protein group EBI-25396188
adjudicates the IntAct KMT2A-ABT1 rows; DECLINED - spoke-expanded BioPlex AP-MS, ABT1 bait, KMT2A prey, nucleolar annotation ECO:0000250 only
adjudicates the IntAct KMT2A-KRR1 row; DECLINED - one of seven ribosomal baits at the 0.35 floor in one screen
adjudicates the IntAct KMT2A-ANOS1 row; DECLINED - a secreted, cerebellum-expressed protein as bait in embryonic kidney cells
adjudicates the two IntAct KMT2A-FGFBP1 rows; DECLINED - replicated in HEK293T and HCT116 and the partner is still a secreted protein
adjudicates the IntAct KMT2A-OASL row; DECLINED on evidence thinness only - OASL is haematopoietically expressed and annotated nucleolar, so no compartment argument applies
adjudicates the IntAct KMT2A-PRKRA row; DECLINED - cytoplasmic dsRNA-binding bait, no nuclease control recorded
adjudicates the IntAct KMT2A-TMCO1 row; DECLINED - a bait-free DSSO crosslink to an ER-membrane calcium channel in isolated nuclei
bounds but does not exclude a nucleolar pool for KMT2A; no measurement of that compartment exists in this graph
KMT2A is an IntAct bait in 96 of 376 rows across 18 publications, the most recent April 2015; every partner curated since is by-catch from someone else's bait
would produce the first KMT2A-bait proximity dataset in a KMT2A-rearranged cell; pre-specified readouts include whether any nucleolar protein survives a size-matched control
- ← co-occurs withOGT - the O-GlcNAc transferase, a Polycomb-complexome bait that pulls down KMT2A, and already the metabolic dial on DOT1L in this graph
OGT bait / KMT2A prey in one spoke-expanded TAP-MS row, IntAct IM-21659, HEK293 - co-purification, not a demonstrated contact
- ← co-occurs withYY1 - the enhancer-promoter looping factor that recovers KMT2A in a 109-transcription-factor BioID screen
YY1 bait / KMT2A prey, one spoke-expanded BioID row (MI:1314), IntAct IM-28767, HEK293 Flp-In - proximity, not binding
- ← co-occurs withLIN28B - a one-row BioID prey of KMT2A that a 2026 Blood paper shows is REQUIRED for KMT2A::AFF1 to transform human fetal cells
LIN28B bait / KMT2A prey, one spoke-expanded BioID2 row, IntAct IM-30059, K562 - proximity only
- ← co-occurs withQKI - a KMT2A proximity row in K562, and a tumour suppressor whose loss concentrates in the HOXA subtype of T-ALL
QKI bait / KMT2A prey, one spoke-expanded BioID2 row, IntAct IM-30059, K562 - proximity only
- ← co-occurs withELF2 / NERF - an ETS factor that works with RUNX1 on a B-cell kinase promoter, and one of eleven TF baits recovering KMT2A
ELF2 bait / KMT2A prey, one spoke-expanded BioID row, IntAct IM-28767, HEK293 Flp-In - proximity only
H3K4me3 is the wild-type KMT2A SET domain's product
KMT2A is the only core protein recovered above its size-and-abundance prediction, and only in the RBP/K562 map
ZC3H8 bait / KMT2A prey, one MI:1314 BioID2 spoke row, IM-30059, K562; p = 0.185, NOT RESOLVED
ELF1 bait / KMT2A prey, one MI:1314 BioID spoke row, IM-28767, HEK293 Flp-In; p = 0.151, NOT RESOLVED
NFYC bait / KMT2A prey, one MI:1314 BioID spoke row, IM-28767; p = 0.084, the lowest of the eleven KMT2A-TF pairs, still NOT RESOLVED
DDX55 bait / KMT2A prey, one MI:1314 BioID2 spoke row, IM-30059, K562; p = 0.162, NOT RESOLVED
NHLH1 bait / KMT2A prey, one MI:1314 BioID spoke row, IM-28767; p = 0.128, NOT RESOLVED, and NHLH1 has no trustworthy localisation
declined: one spoke-expanded BioID row from an ectopic neural homeobox construct in a kidney cell
a claim about where KMT2A resides rather than about what it binds
the MLL1-N channel reports wild-type MLL1 and fusion together and does not separate the drug classes
the PHD cassette deleted from every KMT2A translocation product
the CXXC domain whose non-methylated-CpG affinity sets the shared address
An attempted wild-type-MLL1 specificity control using a C-terminal epitope the fusion does not contain. It inverted - the wild-type-only arm lost MORE (68.8%) than the fusion-containing arm (78.4%) - and is reported as uninterpretable, not interpreted.
180 CUT&Tag libraries mapping KMT2A fusion occupancy across five partner genotypes
KMT2A sits in a multipartite spatial cluster with several partner loci in individual nuclei
The N-terminal fragment carries the menin-binding motifs and is the part retained in the fusion
- ← related toThe menin gap survives matching on menin's own signal, but only two deciles of the two strata overlap
wild-type MLL1 (C-terminal antibody) shows no preferential loss at fusion-occupied promoters, matched gap -0.055
- ← related toH3K4me3 and wild-type MLL1 are the negative controls for the partition, and both come out flat
wild-type MLL1 C-terminal channel does not redistribute after fusion degradation
taspase-1 N320/C180 split used as a built-in wild-type control
the two taspase-1 cleavage products underpin the readout
N-terminal and C-terminal KMT2A antibodies, two of each, in every sample
the threshold calibrates the KMT2A N-terminal over C-terminal ratio
N-terminal versus C-terminal KMT2A antibody ratio
the two taspase1 cleavage fragments N320 and C180
N-terminal over C-terminal KMT2A signal
KMT2A N-terminal over C-terminal call count
four KMT2A antibodies, two per terminus
per-promoter N-over-C ordering
- ← related toGSE252378 holds eight KMT2A::AFF1 oncoprotein panels from two centres, not the three this corpus had used
KMT2A N- and C-terminal antibody panels across seven patients
N/C near parity is consistent with wild-type KMT2A rather than the fusion holding the class
per-sample KMT2A partner in the mll_par field, 74 partner-named cases
237 KMT2A structural-variant records over 180 samples
target of KMT2A fusion proteins in the 2007 founding experiment
H-B would require the fusion's CXXC unmethylated-CpG address to prefer bidirectional CpG-island promoters beyond their activity; prior 0.2
the C-terminal fragment's gene-body occupancy is more uniform across patients than a random relabelling predicts
315 of the 879 IntAct REST records are KMT2A's; 91 prey-only partners
AKAP95 co-elutes with the MLL1 complex on Superose 6 (molecular sieving, PMID 23995757)
single two-hybrid, CLOCK bait / KMT2A prey, miscore 0.37
KMT2A prey in an endogenously tagged HMGN5 pull-down, OpenCell, HEK293T
single HEK293F preparative pull-down from a cryo-EM paper; DECLINED
two identical BioID proximity rows from a centrosome-cilium map, miscore 0.27; DECLINED
human Q03164 residues 1130 and 1133
CBP acetylates MLL1 (pan-acetyl readout, C-terminally biased); not shown at K1130/K1133 specifically
p300 acetylates MLL1 (pan-acetyl readout, C-terminally biased); not shown at K1130/K1133 specifically
174 MS-evidenced PTM site calls on Q03164
71 retained, 4 variable, 99 lost PTM sites on Q03164
Q03164 K1130, exon 5, retained in every classical KMT2A fusion
Q03164 K1133, exon 5, retained in every classical KMT2A fusion
Q03164 K1130 ubiquitination, retained
Q03164 K636, exon 3, retained with a 702-residue margin
Q03164 K1235, exon 7, retained with 99 residues of margin
Q03164 K2528 SUMO2, in N320, LOST in every fusion
Q03164 K1364 SUMO, inside the breakpoint cluster, patient-variable
AKAP95 IDR1 (101-390) co-condenses with the MLL1 translocated fragment - the region every KMT2A fusion retains
co-condensation with the MLL1 translocated fragment, charge-complementarity driven
KMT2A appears in the ZNF384-fusion RIME interactome of 74 proteins - an UNVALIDATED mass-spectrometry hit, flagged as a lead not a contact
declined KMT2A::AFF1-LEF1 pair: one prey row, one method, one publication, no interface
declined KMT2A::AFF1-ACADM pair: one prey row, a mitochondrial matrix enzyme, from a nuclear extract
declined KMT2A::AFF1-GLUD1 pair: 11 spectra, a matrix hexamer, non-zero negative control
declined KMT2A::AFF1-RGPD8 pair: the identification cannot be resolved to the gene
declined KMT2A::AFF1-RPA2 pair: 6 spectra and neither obligate partner subunit co-recovered
declined KMT2A::AFF1-CEP112 pair: weakest p of the six, no literature on any side
RPA ChIP enrichment at the KMT2A 11q23 breakpoint cluster region after etoposide; occupancy at the locus, NOT a contact with the protein or the fusion
the locus whose breakpoint cluster region loads RPA after etoposide
menin E366/D370 meet KMT2A Arg24; menin 371-378 pack against KMT2A Leu27
the locus interrogated: gene span, BCR core, exon-11 CTCF element, DCAL cut point and TSS
measured absent at the locus in ENCODE K562 and HepG2 by this beat
the exon-11 CTCF element at chr11:118,488,614-118,488,760 inside the breakpoint cluster region
zero AsiSI sites (GCGATCGC) in the 90,377 bp gene body; nearest is 84,343 bp past the 3' end
SET/TAF-Ibeta's acidic region binds the AMINO-TERMINAL region of MLL - the same end that carries MBM1 and MBM2, so the fusion may compete with menin rather than deliver a menin-loaded MLL1
the KMT2A subnuclear address is a property of the N320-C180 clamp, which no fusion can form
the punctate nuclear image of KMT2A in translocated cells is unattributable by its own authors
MLL amino terminus targets nucleolus, interphase nuclear matrix and mitotic chromosomal scaffolds
nuclear import maps to the AT-hook region; UniProt annotates no NLS motif on KMT2A
- related to →The nucleolus — the one compartment with direct published images of a KMT2A fusion inside it
nucleolar localisation attributed to the KMT2A amino terminus under conditional overexpression
the two-fragment state that carries the subnuclear address is produced by taspase1 cleavage
the one unwritten bait-supported KMT2A partner in the 2026-09-21 recount is a curation error, so KMT2A's directed-interactome gap is zero
- ← part ofWDR5 — the partner that is not a partner: it binds the half of KMT2A the fusion throws away
WDR5 is one of the eight polypeptides resolved in the founding MLL complex purification (PMID 15199122)
positive control: KMT2A returns ECO:0000269 Nucleus through the identical code path, plus its two uncoded cleavage-fragment location comments
71.9% of KMT2A's 146 IntAct partner pairs rest only on spoke-expanded rows
the records the query cannot reach are filed against the taspase1 fragments Q03164-PRO_0000390949 and -PRO_0000390950
SCF(Skp2) grips the retained N-terminal fragment; 2 IntAct records, neither spoke-expanded
yeast two-hybrid, KMT2A ePHD vs TopBP1 BRCT region; one record, Figure 7D control panel
endogenous reciprocal co-IP in VCaP plus BioID and co-IP in LAPC4/HEK293T; 2 independent publications
KMT2A is one of the twelve, and the reason the census was run.
t(10;11)(q22;q23) MLL-LCX in AML-M2 with trilineage dysplasia; the fusion protein lacks TET1's own CXXC domain and retains its coiled coil.
Decitabine-induced DNMT1 degradation coincides with loss of KMT2A protein in ALL lines, attributed by the authors to structural similarity between the two DNA-binding domains, and is synergistic with menin inhibition.
KMT2A protein fell in every decitabine-responsive ALL line that degraded DNMT1, and only those lines showed biological effects; mechanism proposed on DNA-binding-domain similarity and not directly demonstrated.
KMT2A protein fell in every decitabine-responsive ALL line that degraded DNMT1; species (full-length, N320, C180 or fusion) not distinguished.
All nine measurements are of Q03164 fragments spanning 1136-1244.
Q03164 1147-1244, the MT/BCB domain, derived from Birke's primers against a live UniProt fetch.
KMT2A CXXC 1147-1203 binds Hoxa9-derived CpG duplexes at 3.5 to 32 uM by ITC.
The KMT2A region 1147-1244 carries two names with disjoint literatures.
Re-measures the KMT2A MT domain-DNA contact with the controls the 2002 experiment lacked.
The largest KMT2A species ever titrated against DNA is 98 of 3,969 residues.
Dimethyl fumarate inhibits the MLL1 CXXC-DNA complex at a relative IC50 of 0.91 uM in a single-molecule assay; isolated domain, naked DNA, no cell.
the shared N-terminal epitope is why MLL1 and the fusion cannot be separated in these assays
co-IP maps the contact to the MLL N-terminus and the SETD2 C-terminus - in transiently transfected HEK293
independent evidence: MLL proteins contact the HBO1 complex via THD2, mediated mainly by the ING4/5 and PHF16 (=JADE3) subunits; transformation arm shown for MLL-ELL
pan-MLL-fusion core interactor; the bait is the shared KMT2A N-terminus
the plant WDR33 homolog FY sits in a physical chain with an H3K4 demethylase module
inhibits MLL complex assembly, lowering H3K4me3 - wild-type MLL, not tested on a fusion
a phosphorylation-dependent ZC3H18 isoform associates with core histones, which is why a decay adaptor is in a chromatin purification
pan-MLL-fusion core prey; the shared bait is the KMT2A N-terminus
VIM::KMT2A recurrent sarcoma fusion, VIM exon 4 :: KMT2A exon 2, 4 published cases - KMT2A is the 3' partner and nearly all of KMT2A is retained, so this is NOT a leukaemia-type MLL fusion
MLL exon 6 fused in frame to EB1 exon 5 in adult pro-B ALL; reciprocal EB1-MLL also verified
pan-MLL-fusion core prey; the shared bait is the KMT2A N-terminus
pan-MLL-fusion core prey; the shared bait is the KMT2A N-terminus
pan-MLL-fusion core prey; the shared bait is the KMT2A N-terminus
pan-MLL-fusion core prey; the shared bait is the KMT2A N-terminus
A nucleoporin fusion relocalises wild-type MLL1: NUP98::HOXA9 and SET::NUP214 phase-separated nuclear bodies PROMOTE MLL1 CONDENSATION and are co-localized with MLL1/CRM1 ON CHROMATIN (PMID 37516964) - MLL1 as client, not driver (Q91 2026-09-22)
exon-to-residue map of KMT2A's interfaces (exon 1 = MBM, exons 5-6 = CXXC)
contributes only KMT2A exons 4/5-6 (the CXXC zinc finger) as an internal insert
KMT2A exon 2 onward = aa 145-3969, SET domain retained, exon 1 discarded
predominant KMT2A rearrangement partner in soft tissue sarcoma (16 of 34)
defined by rearrangement of KMT2A, with KMT2A as the 3-prime or internal contributor
KMT2A exons 4-36 = aa 1053-3969; exons 1-3 discarded
LDB1 exons 1-10 to KMT2A exons 4-36, one published sarcoma case
KMT2A exon 8 :: DOCK10 exon 2 (case S13); KMT2A 5-prime, aa 1-1362, MBM+CXXC retained, break inside the leukaemic BCR
KMT2A exon 15 :: AHDC1 exon 2 (case S16); KMT2A 5-prime, aa 1-1668, MBM+CXXC retained - but AHDC1 exon 2 is 5'-untranslated, so no partner protein
KMT2A exon 9 :: ELP4 exon 10 (case S15, angiosarcoma); KMT2A 5-prime aa 1-1406, break inside the leukaemic BCR; ELP4 contributes only its terminal 43 residues
KMT2A exon 3 :: CPT1A exon 15 (case S12, MPNST); KMT2A 5-prime aa 1-1052 - MBM and AT-hooks retained, CXXC LOST
KMT2A exon 8 :: C2CD3 exon 24 (case S14, MPNST); KMT2A 5-prime aa 1-1362, break inside the leukaemic BCR; junction predicted OUT OF FRAME
KMT2A exon 20 :: TMPRSS13 exon 2 (case S17, high-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma); KMT2A 5-prime aa 1-1888, predicted in frame but topologically incoherent
KMT2A exon 22 :: RALGAPA2 exon 2 (case S18, conventional osteosarcoma); KMT2A 5-prime aa 1-1987, the largest KMT2A contribution of the seven; junction predicted OUT OF FRAME
- ← recruitsHCFC1 (HCF-1) — a founding member of the wild-type KMT2A complex that the fusion cannot bind
HCF-1 recruits the MLL-family H3K4 methyltransferases to E2F-responsive S-phase promoters; the motif it binds (KMT2A aa 1799-1802) is deleted from every fusion
BOUNDED ABSENCE, not an interaction: ELP1 x KMT2A = 0 records in titles/abstracts, 0 IntAct records among 130, 0 GEO leukaemia datasets, and absent from all five KMT2A-fusion interactome analyses in this repo
BOUNDED ABSENCE: 0 literature records, 68 IntAct records with no KMT2A-axis partner AND no POLR2A, absent from all five fusion-interactome analyses in this repo
BOUNDED ABSENCE, bounded four ways and nearly fabricated by an instrument failure: 0 literature records (ELP3[tiab] first returned 0 with an EMPTY querytranslation; true count 202), 0 of 107 IntAct records, 0 GEO leukaemia datasets, absent from all five fusion-interactome analyses here
BOUNDED ABSENCE, and small-literature: 0 records against controls of 104/30/218, but ELP5 total literature is 22 records and its IntAct bait has only 13 curated partners
BOUNDED ABSENCE, small-literature, and the second protein in this beat on which the empty-querytranslation instrument failure fired (ELP6[tiab] returned 0 before returning 43)
IDENTIFIER TRAP ON THIS PROJECT OWN INDEX GENE: SMYD3[tiab] AND KMT2A[tiab] = 2 and BOTH are off topic, while AND MLL[tiab] = 5 and AND HOXA9[tiab] = 1 carry the mechanism. Treat X AND KMT2A = 0 as uninformative until X AND MLL has been run
ILF3-bait BioID2 in K562 recovered KMT2A as prey (MI:1314 proximity, MI-score 0.27) - a proximity row, not a contact
BUD13-bait BioID2 in K562 recovered KMT2A as prey (MI:1314, MI-score 0.27); one n-ary record EBI-56895223
Carries KMT2A residues from the breakpoint cluster region to 3969, including PHD1-4, bromodomain, FYRN, TAD, FYRC, WIN and SET.
The same protease cleaves wild-type KMT2A at the same two sites, which is both the toxicity risk and the reason the released MLL-C fragments are indistinguishable.
FYRN 2018-2074 and FYRC 3666-3747 are wild-type KMT2A domains, which is why a decoy cannot be fusion-selective.
Counts reciprocal alleles across the whole KMT2A recombinome, not only t(4;11).
Nominates the KMT2A PHD/bromodomain cassette as the causal element in reciprocal products generally.
A 5'-truncated KMT2A protein initiating from a gene-internal promoter upstream of exon 12.
the SET acidic region binds the MLL N-terminus in both the wild-type and the SET-NUP214 direction
the recruited protein is wild-type MLL1/KMT2A, which carries MBM1 and MBM2
wild-type HRX/KMT2A is punctate and widely expressed, which is what makes the fusion invisible in an image
the import determinant is retained KMT2A sequence, shared with the wild-type protein
clustered PHD fingers of KMT2A, aa 1416-1640
the FYRN-FYRC clamp between the taspase1-generated halves of KMT2A
- ← related toHypothesis: what the KMT2A half loses is control of its own abundance, not control of its activity
[describes] three degradation determinants C-terminal to the breakpoint are absent from every der(11) fusion
[cleaves] D2666 and D2718; cleavage primes MLL1 for proteasomal degradation (contested: Takeda reads it as activation)
[stabilises] raises full-length wild-type KMT2A protein and its chromatin occupancy
[perturbs] degron-titrated wild-type allele, plus non-cleavable knock-in for the upward arm
HCF-binding motif DHNY at aa 1799-1802, lost in every fusion
- ← part ofLost from the KMT2A half: PHD3 and the bromodomain are one cassette, not two modules (aa 1566-1765)
aa 1566-1765; also flags a ~65-residue error in the stored bromodomain range
- ← part ofLost from the KMT2A half: the WIN motif and the whole WRAD interface (aa 3762-3767, Arg3765)
WIN motif aa 3762-3767, Arg3765; ~2,400 residues past the breakpoint cluster
SET aa 3829-3945, post-SET 3953-3969; lost in every fusion
TAD aa 2829-2883 (9aaTAD 2847-2855); lost in every fusion
taspase1 sites at 2666/2667 and 2718/2719; neither is present in any fusion
FYRN 2018-2074 and FYRC 3666-3747; both lost
PHD2 aa 1479-1533, an E3 ligase that limits KMT2A abundance and occupancy; lost in every fusion
C-terminal MOF-recruitment contact, coordinates unresolved
- ← related toThe third category: modules lost from the fusion protein but supplied in trans by the wild-type KMT2A allele
the untranslocated allele still encodes every module catalogued as lost
complete coordinate ledger of the modules C-terminal to the breakpoint cluster region
recessive gain-of-function challenged: Mll(PTD/WT) knock-in mice show the Hox and progenitor phenotype with the wild-type allele intact (Dorrance 2006)
two strikes rest on MLL1 SET-domain dispensability; Chen 2017 finds endogenous MLL1 dispensable altogether and MLL2 the major dependency
- ← related toEPS15 (AF1p): the EH domains may or may not be discarded, and either way nobody has shown it matters
KMT2A::EPS15, t(1;11)(p32;q23); no fusion node exists for this pair
common MLL/COMPASS subunits bind MHC-II and CIITA promoters and their overexpression enhances HLA-DRA expression - family-level, not KMT2A-specific
PZP IS NOT A GENE HERE: 21 entries use PZP for KMT2A's PHD-Zinc-finger-PHD cassette, while HGNC assigns it to pregnancy zone protein.
interaction domain mapped by deletion to the KMT2A 5' region
WDR5 binds the KMT2A WIN motif at approximately aa 3762-3773 with Arg3765 in the WDR5 arginine pocket - a wild-type contact roughly 2,400 residues past the breakpoint cluster region.
RBBP5 engages a non-active-site surface of the MLL1 SET domain as a heterodimer with ASH2L, and separately contacts nucleosomal H2B-ubiquitin.
The proposed route is the wild-type KMT2A allele, which KMT2A fusions require for stable chromatin association and for leukaemia maintenance.