In mammals, histamine is metabolized by two major pathways: N(tau)-methylation via histamine N-methyltransferase and oxidative deamination via diamine oxidase. This gene encodes the first enzyme which is found in the cytosol and uses S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the methyl donor. In the mammalian brain, the neurotransmitter activity of histamine is controlled by N(tau)-methylation as diamine oxidase is not found in the central nervous system. A common genetic polymorphism affects the activity levels of this gene product in red blood cells. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants that encode different proteins have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]
Function:
Inactivates histamine by N-methylation. Plays an important role in degrading histamine and in regulating the airway response to histamine.
Subcellular Location:
Cytoplasm.
Similarity:
Belongs to the methyltransferase superfamily. HNMT family.
SWISS:
P50135
Gene ID:
3176
Database links:
Entrez Gene: 3176 Human
Omim: 605238 Human
SwissProt: P50135 Human
Unigene: 42151 Human
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