Convergence of DNA methylation and phosphorothioation epigenetics in bacterial genomes.

ABSTRACT: Explosive growth in the study of microbial epigenetics has revealed a diversity of chemical structures and biological functions of DNA modifications in restriction-modification (R-M) and basic genetic processes. Here, we describe the discovery of shared consensus sequences for two seemingly unrelated DNA modification systems, ^6mA methylation and phosphorothioation (PT), in which sulfur replaces a nonbridging oxygen in the DNA backbone. Mass spectrometric analysis of DNA from Escherichia coli B7A and Salmonella enterica serovar Cerro 87, strains possessing PT-based R-M genes, revealed d(G_PS^6mA) dinucleotides in the G_PS^6mAAC consensus representing ∼5% of the 1,100 to 1,300 PT-modified d(G_PSA) motifs per genome, w

SUBMITTER: Chen C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5410841 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature