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Review
. 1999 May 25;96(11):5894-6.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.11.5894.

DNA demethylation

A P Wolffe  1 , P L Jones, P A Wade
Affiliations
Review

DNA demethylation

A P Wolffe et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Active DNA demethylation. Two pathways are illustrated. (A) The 5-methylcytosine demethylase hydrolyzes 5-methylcytosine to cytosine and water (38). (B) The 5-methylcytosine DNA glycosylase abstracts 5-methylcytosine from the phosphodiester backbone, which then is repaired by using endonuclease (43, 44).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Replication-coupled DNA demethylation. (A) Normally, each strand of a symmetrically methylated CpG dinucleotide (M) would be segregated after replication daughter chromatids, leaving one strand of DNA methylated (M) and the other not (●). The maintenance methyltransferase activity of Dnmt1 then would restore symmetrical methylation. (B) Regulatory nucleoprotein complexes might occlude Dnmt1 leading to loss of methylation (48, 49). (C) Histone acetylation might repel or inhibit Dnmt1, leading to loss of methylation (47).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • DNA methylation is a reversible biological signal.
    Ramchandani S, Bhattacharya SK, Cervoni N, Szyf M. Ramchandani S, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 May 25;96(11):6107-12. doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.11.6107. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999. PMID: 10339549 Free PMC article.

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