Lens development requires DNMT1 but takes place normally in the absence of both DNMT3A and DNMT3B activity.

ABSTRACT: Despite the wealth of knowledge of transcription factors involved in lens development, little information exists about the role of DNA methylation in this process. Here, we investigated the role of DNA methylation in lens development and fiber cell differentiation using mice conditionally lacking maintenance or de novo methyltransferases in the lens lineage. We found that while Dnmt1 inactivation at the lens placode stage (via the Le-Cre transgene) led to lens DNA hypomethylation and severe lens epithelial apoptosis, lens fiber cell differentiation remained largely unaffected. The simultaneous deletion of phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten) elevated the level of phosphorylated AKT and rescued many of the morphological defects and cell death in DNMT1-deficient lenses. With a different Cre

SUBMITTER: Hoang TV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5270636 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature