title: Regional expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is correlated with dynamic patterns of promoter methylation in the developing mouse forebrain.
abstract: Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) plays an important role in brain development and plasticity. BDNF gene expression is known to be dynamically regulated during development, but the regulatory controls of normal differential expression are not well understood. Methylation of CpG dinucleotides within gene promoters is emerging as an important epigenetic control mechanism of transcription, and the BDNF complex promoter contains several CpG dinucleotides. We determined BDNF expression in the developing mouse forebrain and examined whether there were correlated patterns of methylation at CpG dinucleotides within the BDNF promoter. The data show that BDNF is dynamically expressed in the mouse forebrain and that expression is correlated with differential methylation specifically at CpG dinucleotides in eIV of the mouse BDNF promoter. These studies demonstrate that DNA methylation of this regulatory region may be an important mechanism controlling differential expression of BDNF during forebrain development.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 465 21st Avenue S. MRBIII, Rm 8114, Nashville, TN 37232, USA. kathleen.dennis@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Kathleen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Levitt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D017931:DNA Primers; D015226:Dinucleoside Phosphates; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D017931:DNA Primers; D015226:Dinucleoside Phosphates; C015772:CpG dinucleotide