Molecular evolution of DNMT1 in vertebrates: Duplications in marsupials followed by positive selection.

ABSTRACT: DNA methylation is mediated by a conserved family of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts). The human genome encodes three active Dnmts (Dnmt1, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b), the tRNA methyltransferase Dnmt2, and the regulatory protein Dnmt3L. Despite their high degree of conservation among different species, genes encoding Dnmts have been duplicated and/or lost in multiple lineages throughout evolution, indicating that the DNA methylation machinery has some potential to undergo evolutionary change. However, little is known about the extent to which this machinery, or the methylome, varies among vertebrates. Here, we study the molecular evolution of Dnmt1, the enzyme responsible for maintenance of DNA methylation patterns after replication, in 79 vertebrate species. Our analyses show that all studied specie

SUBMITTER: Alvarez-Ponce D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5886458 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature