TY - JOUR
T1 - DNA methylation is a reversible biological signal
AU - Ramchandani, Shyam
AU - Bhattacharya, Sanjoy K.
AU - Cervoni, Nadia
AU - Szyf, Moshe
PY - 1999/5/25
Y1 - 1999/5/25
N2 - The pattern of DNA methylation plays an important role in regulating different genome functions. To test the hypothesis that DNA methylation is a reversible biochemical process, we purified a DNA demethylase from human cells that catalyzes the cleavage of a methyl residue from 5-methyl cytosine and its release as methanol. We show that similar to DNA methyltransferase, DNA demethylase shows CpG dinucleotide specificity, can demethylate mdCpdG sites in different sequence contexts, and demethylates both fully methylated and hemimethylated DNA. Thus, contrary to the commonly accepted model, DNA methylation is a reversible signal, similar to other physiological biochemical modifications.
AB - The pattern of DNA methylation plays an important role in regulating different genome functions. To test the hypothesis that DNA methylation is a reversible biochemical process, we purified a DNA demethylase from human cells that catalyzes the cleavage of a methyl residue from 5-methyl cytosine and its release as methanol. We show that similar to DNA methyltransferase, DNA demethylase shows CpG dinucleotide specificity, can demethylate mdCpdG sites in different sequence contexts, and demethylates both fully methylated and hemimethylated DNA. Thus, contrary to the commonly accepted model, DNA methylation is a reversible signal, similar to other physiological biochemical modifications.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.96.11.6107
DO - 10.1073/pnas.96.11.6107
M3 - Article
C2 - 10339549
AN - SCOPUS:0032991506
VL - 96
SP - 6107
EP - 6112
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 11
ER -