Developmentally programmed 3' CpG island methylation confers tissue- and cell-type-specific transcriptional activation.

ABSTRACT: During development, a small but significant number of CpG islands (CGIs) become methylated. The timing of developmentally programmed CGI methylation and associated mechanisms of transcriptional regulation during cellular differentiation, however, remain poorly characterized. Here, we used genome-wide DNA methylation microarrays to identify epigenetic changes during human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation. We discovered a group of CGIs associated with developmental genes that gain methylation after hESCs differentiate. Conversely, erasure of methylation was observed at the identified CGIs during subsequent reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), further supporting a functional role for the CGI methylation. Both global gene expression profiling and quantitative reve

SUBMITTER: Yu DH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3624169 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature