Rtt109 is a yeast histone acetyltransferase (HAT) that associates with histone chaperones Asf1 and Vps75 to acetylate H3K56, H3K9, and H3K27 and is important in DNA replication and maintaining genomic integrity. Recently, mass spectrometry and structural studies of Rtt109 have shown that active site residue Lys-290 is acetylated. However, the functional role of this modification and how the acetyl group is added to Lys-290 was unclear. Here, we examined the mechanism of Lys-290 acetylation and found that Rtt109 catalyzes intramolecular autoacetylation of Lys-290 ϳ200-times slower than H3 acetylation. Deacetylated Rtt109 was prepared by reacting with a sirtuin protein deacetylase, producing an enzyme with negligible HAT activity. Autoacetylation of Rtt109 restored full HAT activity, indicating that autoacetylation is necessary for HAT activity and is a fully reversible process. To dissect the mechanism of activation, biochemical, and kinetic analyses were performed with Lys-290 variants of the Rtt109-Vps75 complex. We found that autoacetylation of Lys-290 increases the binding affinity for acetyl-CoA and enhances the rate of acetyl-transfer onto histone substrates. This study represents the first detailed investigation of a HAT enzyme regulated by single-site intramolecular autoacetylation.Compaction of the eukaryotic genome is achieved by the packaging of DNA into chromatin. The fundamental unit of chromatin, the nucleosome, is composed of 147 base pairs of DNA wrapped around an octamer of histones containing two each of H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 (1). The covalent modification of histones, such as phosphorylation, acetylation, and methylation regulates DNA replication, repair, and transcription (2-6). Histone acetyltransferases (HATs), 2 a particular class of modification enzymes, catalyze the transfer of the acetyl group from acetyl-CoA onto the ⑀-amine group of lysines on histone substrates (7-9). There are three distinct HAT families that are classified according to their primary sequence and structural homology. These include the GNAT (Gcn5-related N-acetyltransferase), MYST (MOZ, Ybf2/Sas3, Sas2, and Tip60) and p300/CBP/Rtt109 families (7,9,10). Despite the divergence in sequence homology among the families, these HAT enzymes contain structurally similar core catalytic domains and utilize direct lysine substrate attack mechanisms (sequential) to carry out acetyl transfer (7,9 -11).Rtt109 (regulator of Ty1 transposition gene product 109) is a unique fungal-specific HAT enzyme (also named KAT11) that shares little sequence homology with other HAT enzymes. First identified to regulate the mobility of the Ty1 transposon element, Rtt109 HAT activities are important in a number of nuclear processes including DNA replication and maintaining genome integrity (12-17). Unique from other HAT enzymes, Rtt109 requires association with histone chaperones to direct substrate specificity and enhance catalysis (15, 18 -20). Histone chaperones bind histones to prevent unfavorable histone:DNA interactions and function in the assem...