Dynamic changes in DNA modification states during late gestation male germ line development in the rat.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Epigenetic reprogramming of fetal germ cells involves the genome-wide erasure and subsequent re-establishment of DNA methylation. Mouse studies indicate that DNA demethylation may be initiated at embryonic day (e) 8 and completed between e11.5 and e12.5. In the male germline, DNA remethylation begins around e15 and continues for the remainder of gestation whilst this process occurs postnatally in female germ cells. Although 5-methylcytosine (5mC) dynamics have been extensively characterised, a role for the more recently described DNA modifications (5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC)) remains unclear. Moreover, the extent to which the developmental dynamics of 5mC reprogramming is conserved across species remains largely u

SUBMITTER: Rose CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4163680 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature