scholarly journals The R882H substitution in the human de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A disrupts allosteric regulation by the tumor supressor p53

2019 ◽  
Vol 294 (48) ◽  
pp. 18207-18219
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Sandoval ◽  
Norbert O. Reich
Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miryam Pérez-Cañamás ◽  
Elizabeth Hevia ◽  
Carmen Hernández

DNA cytosine methylation is one of the main epigenetic mechanisms in higher eukaryotes and is considered to play a key role in transcriptional gene silencing. In plants, cytosine methylation can occur in all sequence contexts (CG, CHG, and CHH), and its levels are controlled by multiple pathways, including de novo methylation, maintenance methylation, and demethylation. Modulation of DNA methylation represents a potentially robust mechanism to adjust gene expression following exposure to different stresses. However, the potential involvement of epigenetics in plant-virus interactions has been scarcely explored, especially with regard to RNA viruses. Here, we studied the impact of a symptomless viral infection on the epigenetic status of the host genome. We focused our attention on the interaction between Nicotiana benthamiana and Pelargonium line pattern virus (PLPV, family Tombusviridae), and analyzed cytosine methylation in the repetitive genomic element corresponding to ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Through a combination of bisulfite sequencing and RT-qPCR, we obtained data showing that PLPV infection gives rise to a reduction in methylation at CG sites of the rDNA promoter. Such a reduction correlated with an increase and decrease, respectively, in the expression levels of some key demethylases and of MET1, the DNA methyltransferase responsible for the maintenance of CG methylation. Hypomethylation of rDNA promoter was associated with a five-fold augmentation of rRNA precursor levels. The PLPV protein p37, reported as a suppressor of post-transcriptional gene silencing, did not lead to the same effects when expressed alone and, thus, it is unlikely to act as suppressor of transcriptional gene silencing. Collectively, the results suggest that PLPV infection as a whole is able to modulate host transcriptional activity through changes in the cytosine methylation pattern arising from misregulation of methyltransferases/demethylases balance.


Nature Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-197
Author(s):  
Jianjun Jiang ◽  
Jie Liu ◽  
Dean Sanders ◽  
Shuiming Qian ◽  
Wendan Ren ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da-Li Zheng ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Na Cheng ◽  
Xiao Xu ◽  
Qing Deng ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 3949-3961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien-Chu Lin ◽  
Yi-Ping Chen ◽  
Wei-Zen Yang ◽  
James C K Shen ◽  
Hanna S Yuan

Abstract DNA methyltransferases are primary enzymes for cytosine methylation at CpG sites of epigenetic gene regulation in mammals. De novo methyltransferases DNMT3A and DNMT3B create DNA methylation patterns during development, but how they differentially implement genomic DNA methylation patterns is poorly understood. Here, we report crystal structures of the catalytic domain of human DNMT3B–3L complex, noncovalently bound with and without DNA of different sequences. Human DNMT3B uses two flexible loops to enclose DNA and employs its catalytic loop to flip out the cytosine base. As opposed to DNMT3A, DNMT3B specifically recognizes DNA with CpGpG sites via residues Asn779 and Lys777 in its more stable and well-ordered target recognition domain loop to facilitate processive methylation of tandemly repeated CpG sites. We also identify a proton wire water channel for the final deprotonation step, revealing the complete working mechanism for cytosine methylation by DNMT3B and providing the structural basis for DNMT3B mutation-induced hypomethylation in immunodeficiency, centromere instability and facial anomalies syndrome.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Shirai ◽  
Takuya Nara ◽  
Haruko Takahashi ◽  
Kazuya Takayama ◽  
Yuan Chen ◽  
...  

CpG methylation in genomic DNA is well known as a repressive epigenetic marker in eukaryotic transcription, and DNA methylation of the promoter regions is correlated with silencing of gene expression. In contrast to the promoter regions, the function of DNA methylation during transcription termination remains to be elucidated. A recent study has revealed that mouse DNA methyltransferase 3a (Dnmt3a) mainly functions in de novo methylation in the promoter and gene body regions (including transcription termination sites (TTSs)) during development. To investigate the relationship between DNA methylation overlapping the TTSs and transcription termination, we employed two strategies: informatic analysis using already deposited datasets of Dnmt3a-/- mouse cells and the zebrafish model system. Bioinformatic analysis using methylome and transcriptome data showed that hypomethylated differentially methylated regions overlapping the TTSs were associated with increased read counts and chimeric transcripts downstream of TTSs in Dnmt3a-/- Agouti-related protein neurons, but not in Dnmt3a-/- ES cells and MEFs. We experimentally detected increased read-through and chimeric transcripts downstream of hypomethylated TTSs in zebrafish maternal-zygotic dnmt3aa-/- mutants. This study is the first to identify transcription termination defects in DNA hypomethylated TTSs in Dnmt3a-/- vertebrates.


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1325
Author(s):  
Fenfen Li ◽  
Xin Cui ◽  
Jia Jing ◽  
Shirong Wang ◽  
Huidong Shi ◽  
...  

Obesity results from a chronic energy imbalance due to energy intake exceeding energy expenditure. Activation of brown fat thermogenesis has been shown to combat obesity. Epigenetic regulation, including DNA methylation, has emerged as a key regulator of brown fat thermogenic function. Here we aimed to study the role of Dnmt3b, a DNA methyltransferase involved in de novo DNA methylation, in the regulation of brown fat thermogenesis and obesity. We found that the specific deletion of Dnmt3b in brown fat promotes the thermogenic and mitochondrial program in brown fat, enhances energy expenditure, and decreases adiposity in female mice fed a regular chow diet. With a lean phenotype, the female knockout mice also exhibit increased insulin sensitivity. In addition, Dnmt3b deficiency in brown fat also prevents diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in female mice. Interestingly, our RNA-seq analysis revealed an upregulation of the PI3K-Akt pathway in the brown fat of female Dnmt3b knockout mice. However, male Dnmt3b knockout mice have no change in their body weight, suggesting the existence of sexual dimorphism in the brown fat Dnmt3b knockout model. Our data demonstrate that Dnmt3b plays an important role in the regulation of brown fat function, energy metabolism and obesity in female mice.


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jered M Wendte ◽  
Yinwen Zhang ◽  
Lexiang Ji ◽  
Xiuling Shi ◽  
Rashmi R Hazarika ◽  
...  

In many plant species, a subset of transcribed genes are characterized by strictly CG-context DNA methylation, referred to as gene body methylation (gbM). The mechanisms that establish gbM are unclear, yet flowering plant species naturally without gbM lack the DNA methyltransferase, CMT3, which maintains CHG (H = A, C, or T) and not CG methylation at constitutive heterochromatin. Here, we identify the mechanistic basis for gbM establishment by expressing CMT3 in a species naturally lacking CMT3. CMT3 expression reconstituted gbM through a progression of de novo CHG methylation on expressed genes, followed by the accumulation of CG methylation that could be inherited even following loss of the CMT3 transgene. Thus, gbM likely originates from the simultaneous targeting of loci by pathways that promote euchromatin and heterochromatin, which primes genes for the formation of stably inherited epimutations in the form of CG DNA methylation.


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