Active demethylation in mouse zygotes involves cytosine deamination and base excision repair.

ABSTRACT:

Background

DNA methylation in mammals is an epigenetic mark necessary for normal embryogenesis. During development active loss of methylation occurs in the male pronucleus during the first cell cycle after fertilisation. This is accompanied by major chromatin remodelling and generates a marked asymmetry between the paternal and maternal genomes. The mechanism(s) by which this is achieved implicate, among others, base excision repair (BER) components and more recently a major role for TET3 hydroxylase. To investigate these methylation dynamics further we have analysed DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation in fertilised mouse oocytes by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) and evaluated the relative contribution of different candidate factors for active demethylation in knock-out zygote

SUBMITTER: Santos F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4037648 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature