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Regulation of de novo methylation

  • Chapter
DNA Methylation

Part of the book series: EXS ((EXS,volume 64))

Abstract

It has become dogma that vertebrate DNA, and indeed the DNA of most animals, contains methylcytosine that is restricted to the dinucleotide MG (where M is 5-methylcytosine). Plants have a higher proportion of DNA cytosines methylated largely because they have additional methylcytosine in the trinucleotide sequence MNG (Belanger and Hepburn, 1990). Not all CG (nor CNG) sequences are methylated and yet those that are, are maintained in the methylated form from cell generation to generation in a tissue specific manner. This maintenance of methylation pattern is believed to be an intrinsic property of the enzyme catalysing the transfer of methyl groups from S-adenosyl methionine (AdoMet) to the DNA; an enzyme known as a DNA-(5-cytosine) methyltransferase or DNA methylase. In other words, the methylase acts on newly synthesized DNA to add a methyl group to cytosines on the daughter strand which are paired with guanines in MG dinucleotide (or MNG trinucleotide) sequences present on the parental strand.

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Abbreviations

M:

is used to represent methylcytosine when in nucleotide sequences.

AdoMet and AdoHcy:

refer to S-adenosyl methionine and S-adenosyl homocysteine respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland

    R. L. P. Adams, H. Lindsay, A. Reale, C. Seivwright, S. Kass, M. Cummings & C. Houlston

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  1. Friedrich Miescher-Institut, P.O. Box 2543, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Jean-Pierre Jost

  2. IRBM, Via Pontina Km 30,600, I-00040, Pomenzia (Roma), Italy

    Hans-Peter Saluz

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Adams, R.L.P. et al. (1993). Regulation of de novo methylation. In: Jost, JP., Saluz, HP. (eds) DNA Methylation. EXS, vol 64. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9118-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9118-9_6

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