Bacterial infection remodels the DNA methylation landscape of human dendritic cells.

ABSTRACT: DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark thought to be robust to environmental perturbations on a short time scale. Here, we challenge that view by demonstrating that the infection of human dendritic cells (DCs) with a live pathogenic bacteria is associated with rapid and active demethylation at thousands of loci, independent of cell division. We performed an integrated analysis of data on genome-wide DNA methylation, histone mark patterns, chromatin accessibility, and gene expression, before and after infection. We found that infection-induced demethylation rarely occurs at promoter regions and instead localizes to distal enhancer elements, including those that regulate the activation of key immune transcription factors. Active demethylation is associated with extensive epigenetic remodeling

SUBMITTER: Pacis A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4665002 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature