Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Aug:37:28-38.
doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2017.05.002. Epub 2017 May 10.

The role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in development, aging and age-related diseases

V López  1 , A F Fernández  1 , M F Fraga  2
Affiliations
Review

The role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in development, aging and age-related diseases

V López et al. Ageing Res Rev. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

DNA methylation at the fifth position of cytosines (5mC) represents a major epigenetic modification in mammals. The recent discovery of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), resulting from 5mC oxidation, is redefining our view of the epigenome, as multiple studies indicate that 5hmC is not simply an intermediate of DNA demethylation, but a genuine epigenetic mark that may play an important functional role in gene regulation. Currently, the availability of platforms that discriminates between the presence of 5mC and 5hmC at single-base resolution is starting to shed light on the functions of 5hmC. In this review, we provide an overview of the genomic distribution of 5hmC, and examine recent findings on the role of this mark and the potential consequences of its misregulation during three fundamental biological processes: cell differentiation, cancer and aging.

Keywords: 5-hydroxymethylcytosine; Aging; Cancer; Cell differentiation; DNA methylation; Epigenetics.

PubMed Disclaimer