Effective, homogeneous and transient interference with cytosine methylation in plant genomic DNA by zebularine.
Effective, homogeneous and transient interference with cytosine methylation in plant genomic DNA by zebularine.
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DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-313x.2008.03699.x
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发表时间:
2009-02
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
Mittelsten Scheid O
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Baubec T;Pecinka A;Rozhon W;Mittelsten Scheid O
Covalent modification by methylation of cytosine residues represents an important epigenetic hallmark. While sequence analysis after bisulphite conversion allows correlative analyses with single-base resolution, functional analysis by interference with DNA methylation is less precise, due to the complexity of methylation enzymes and their targets. A cytidine analogue, 5-azacytidine, is frequently used as an inhibitor of DNA methyltransferases, but its rapid degradation in aqueous solution is problematic for culture periods of longer than a few hours. Application of zebularine, a more stable cytidine analogue with a similar mode of action that is successfully used as a methylation inhibitor in Neurospora and mammalian tumour cell lines, can significantly reduce DNA methylation in plants in a dose-dependent and transient manner independent of sequence context. Demethylation is connected with transcriptional reactivation and partial decondensation of heterochromatin. Zebularine represents a promising new and versatile tool for investigating the role of DNA methylation in plants with regard to transcriptional control, maintenance and formation of (hetero-) chromatin.