Binding of the Spp1 PHD finger to histone H3K4me3 is sensitive to adjacent post-translational modifications in the histone tail. This commentary discusses the findings of He and colleagues [ Biochem. J.   476 , 1957-1973] which show that the PHD finger binds to H3K4me3 in a selective manner which is conserved in the  Saccharomyces pombe  and mammalian orthologues of Spp1.