Methylation of L1Hs promoters is lower on the inactive X, has a tendency of being higher on autosomes in smaller genomes and shows inter-individual variability at some loci.

ABSTRACT: LINE-1 repeats account for ~17% of the human genome. Little is known about their individual methylation patterns, because their repetitive, almost identical sequences make them difficult to be individually targeted. Here, we used bisulfite conversion to study methylation at individual LINE-1 repeats. The loci studied included 39 X-linked loci and 5 autosomal loci. On the X chromosome in women, we found statistically significant less methylation at almost all L1Hs compared with men. Methylation at L1P and L1M did not correlate with the inactivation status of the host DNA, while the majority of L1Hs that were possible to be studied lie in inactivated regions. To investigate whether the male-female differences at L1Hs on the X are linked to the inactivation process itself rather than to a mer

SUBMITTER: Singer H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3235015 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature