Chromosome marking by cytosine methylation has been examined in two gene systems in wheat--at the loci encoding high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits (seed proteins) and ribosomal RNA. Variation in cytosine methylation occurs between progeny in highly inbred lines around the HMW glutenin locus. The variation is inherited through meiosis to F1 and F2 generations but occasionally a new va...

Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides containing unmethylated CpG motifs activate Toll-Like Receptor 9 (TLR9). Our previous studies have shown the role of hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor groups of cytosine and guanine in the CpG motif and identified synthetic immunostimulatory motifs. In the present study to elucidate the significance of N3-position of cytosine and N1-position of guanine in the CpG ...

Alterations in cytosine methylation patterns are usually observed in human tumors. The consequences of altered cytosine methylation patterns include both inappropriate activation of transforming genes and silencing of tumor suppressor genes. Despite the biological effect of methylation changes, little is known about how such changes are caused. The heritability of cytosine methylation patterns ...

Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides containing unmethylated CpG motifs activate Toll-Like Receptor 9 (TLR9). Our previous studies have shown the role of hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor groups of cytosine and guanine in the CpG motif and identified synthetic immunostimulatory motifs. In the present study to elucidate the significance of N3-position of cytosine and N1-position of guanine in the CpG ...

Bisulfite genomic sequencing is a widely used technique for analyzing cytosine-methylation of DNA. By treating DNA with bisulfite, cytosine residues are deaminated to uracil, while leaving 5-methylcytosine largely intact. Subsequent PCR and nucleotide sequence analysis permit unequivocal determination of the methylation status at cytosine residues. A major caveat associated with the currently p...

Electron attachment to double-stranded cytosine-rich DNA, dCpdC:dGpdG, has been studied by density functional theory. This system represents a minimal descriptive unit of a cytosine-rich double-stranded DNA helix. A significant electron affinity for the formation of a cytosine-centered radical anion is revealed to be about 2.2 eV. The excess electron may reside on the nucleobase at the 5' posit...

Individual DNA molecules can be read at single nucleotide precision using nanopores coupled to processive enzymes. Discrimination among the four canonical bases has been achieved, as has discrimination among cytosine, 5-methylcytosine (mC), and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (hmC). Two additional modified cytosine bases, 5-carboxylcytosine (caC) and 5-formylcytosine (fC), are produced during enzymatic...

A new study (Zemach et al., 2013) suggests that the chromatin remodeling ATPase DDM1 is specifically required for cytosine methylation at linker histone H1-associated heterochromatin, facilitating access by three cytosine methyltransferases, including a previously uncharacterized CHH methylase, CMT2.