Open AccessSINE Retroposons Can Be Used In Vivo as Nucleation Centers for De Novo Methylation
Author(s) -
Philippe Arnaud,
Chantal Goubely,
Thierry Pélissier,
Jean-Marc Deragon
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
molecular and cellular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.14
H-Index - 327
eISSN - 1067-8824
pISSN - 0270-7306
DOI - 10.1128/mcb.20.10.3434-3441.2000
Subject(s) - biology , retroposon , dna methylation , genetics , transposable element , sine , epigenetics , methylation , computational biology , genome , dna , gene , gene expression , geometry , mathematics
SINEs (short interspersed elements) are an abundant class of transposable elements found in a wide variety of eukaryotes. Using the genomic sequencing technique, we observed that plant S1 SINE retroposons mainly integrate in hypomethylated DNA regions and are targeted by methylases. Methylation can then spread from the SINE into flanking genomic sequences, creating distal epigenetic modifications. This methylation spreading is vectorially directed upstream or downstream of the S1 element, suggesting that it could be facilitated when a potentially good methylatable sequence is single stranded during DNA replication, particularly when located on the lagging strand. Replication of a short methylated DNA region could thus lead to the de novo methylation of upstream or downstream adjacent sequences.