Histone
posttranslational modifications (PTMs) are vital epigenetic
regulators in many fundamental cell signaling pathways and diverse
biological processes. Histone lysine benzoylation is a recently identified
epigenetic mark associated with active transcription; however, it
remains to be explored. Herein, we first report the genetic encoding
of benzoyllysine and fluorinated benzoyllysines into full-length histone
proteins in a site-specific manner in live cells, based on our rationally
designed synthetase and fine-integrated fluorine element into benzoyllysines.
The incorporated unnatural amino acids integrating unique features
were demonstrated as versatile probes for investigating histone benzoylation
under biological environments, conferring multiplex signals such
as 19F NMR spectra with chemical clarity and fluorescence
signals for benzoylation. Moreover, the site specifically incorporated
lysine benzoylation within native full-length histone proteins revealed
distinct dynamics of debenzoylation in the presence of debenzoylase
sirtuin 2 (SIRT2). Our developed strategy for genetic encoding of
benzoyllysines offers a general and novel approach to gain insights
into interactions of site-specific histone benzoylation modifications
with interactomes and molecular mechanisms in physiological settings,
which could not be accessible with fragment histone peptides. This
versatile chemical tool enables a direct and new avenue to explore
benzoylation, interactions, and histone epigenetics, which will provide
broad utilities in chemical biology, protein science, and basic biology
research.