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Helicase homologues maintain cytosine methylation in plants and mammals
Author(s) -
Bourc'his Déborah,
Bestor Timothy H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.10078
Subject(s) - biology , dna methylation , genetics , gene , arabidopsis , methylation , genome , rna directed dna methylation , methyltransferase , helicase , demethylation , gene expression , rna , mutant
The Arabidopsis DDM1 gene is required for the maintenance of genomic methylation patterns but is a helicase homolog of the SWI2/SNF2 family rather than a DNA methyltransferase. ( 1 ) Dennis et al. ( 2 ) have shown that disruption of the mouse Lsh gene, the mammalian gene most closely related to DDM1 , causes demethylation of the mouse genome. This result suggests that the mechanisms that maintain methylation patterns in the genomes of mammals and flowering plants are more conserved than previously suspected. BioEssays 24:297–299, 2002. ©2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.