Rethinking how DNA methylation patterns are maintained.
DNA methylation patterns are set up early in mammalian development and are then copied during the division of somatic cells. A long-established model for the maintenance of these patterns explains some, but not all, of the data that are now available. We propose a new model that suggests that the maintenance of DNA methylation relies not only on the recognition of hemimethylated DNA by DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) but also on the localization of the DNMT3A and DNMT3B enzymes to specific chromatin regions that contain methylated DNA.
Jones
Peter A
PA
Peter A. Jones and Gangning Liang are at the Department of Urology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-9181, USA. jones_p@ccnt.usc.edu
Liang
Gangning
G
D000818:Animals; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans