Nucleic acid modifications with epigenetic significance.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic modifications influence gene expression without alterations to the underlying nucleic acid sequence. In addition to the well-known 5-methylcytosine (5mC), 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and 5-carboxycytosine (5caC) have recently been discovered in genomic DNA, which all result from iterative oxidation of 5mC by the TET (Ten-Eleven-Translocate) family of enzymes. Recent studies have proposed the roles of these oxidized cytosines in mediating active demethylation of 5mC. Through affinity-based genome-wide sequencing and oxidation-assisted base-resolution sequencing methods, 5hmC is found to be dynamically regulated during development, and is enriched mainly in distal regulatory elements in human and mouse embryonic cells. Among RNA modifications, N(6)-meth

SUBMITTER: Fu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3518615 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature