PHD folds into an interleaved type of Zn-finger chelating 2 Zn ions in a similar manner to that of the RING and FYVE domains [2]. Several PHD fingers have been identified as binding modules of methylated histone H3 [3].

1: The PHD finger: implications for chromatin-mediated transcriptional regulation. Aasland R, Gibson TJ, Stewart AF; Trends Biochem Sci 1995;20:56-59. PMID:7701562

2: Structure of the PHD zinc finger from human williams-beuren syndrome transcription factor Pascual J, Martinez-Yamout M, Dyson HJ, Wright PE; J Mol Biol 2000;304:723-729. PMID:11124022

3: Proteome-wide analysis in S. cerevisiae identifies several PHD fingers as novel direct and selective binding modules of histone H3 methylated at either lysine 4 or lysine 36. Shi X, Kachirskaia I, Walter KL, Kuo JH, Lake A, Davrazou F, Chan SM, Martin DG, Fingerman IM, Briggs SD, Howe L, Utz PJ, Kutateladze TG, Lugovskoy AA, Bedford MT, Gozani O; J Biol Chem. 2006; [Epub ahead of print] PMID:17142463