scholarly journals Mechanism and Function of Oxidative Reversal of DNA and RNA Methylation

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 585-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Shen ◽  
Chun-Xiao Song ◽  
Chuan He ◽  
Yi Zhang
Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Ali Mehdi ◽  
Shafaat A. Rabbani

DNA and RNA methylation play a vital role in the transcriptional regulation of various cell types including the differentiation and function of immune cells involved in pro- and anti-cancer immunity. Interactions of tumor and immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are complex. TME shapes the fate of tumors by modulating the dynamic DNA (and RNA) methylation patterns of these immune cells to alter their differentiation into pro-cancer (e.g., regulatory T cells) or anti-cancer (e.g., CD8+ T cells) cell types. This review considers the role of DNA and RNA methylation in myeloid and lymphoid cells in the activation, differentiation, and function that control the innate and adaptive immune responses in cancer and non-cancer contexts. Understanding the complex transcriptional regulation modulating differentiation and function of immune cells can help identify and validate therapeutic targets aimed at targeting DNA and RNA methylation to reduce cancer-associated morbidity and mortality.


Author(s):  
Patricia G. Arscott ◽  
Gil Lee ◽  
Victor A. Bloomfield ◽  
D. Fennell Evans

STM is one of the most promising techniques available for visualizing the fine details of biomolecular structure. It has been used to map the surface topography of inorganic materials in atomic dimensions, and thus has the resolving power not only to determine the conformation of small molecules but to distinguish site-specific features within a molecule. That level of detail is of critical importance in understanding the relationship between form and function in biological systems. The size, shape, and accessibility of molecular structures can be determined much more accurately by STM than by electron microscopy since no staining, shadowing or labeling with heavy metals is required, and there is no exposure to damaging radiation by electrons. Crystallography and most other physical techniques do not give information about individual molecules.We have obtained striking images of DNA and RNA, using calf thymus DNA and two synthetic polynucleotides, poly(dG-me5dC)·poly(dG-me5dC) and poly(rA)·poly(rU).


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. eaax1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Bai ◽  
Jiazhen Dong ◽  
Zhenqiu Liu ◽  
Youliang Rao ◽  
Pinghui Feng ◽  
...  

Helicases play pivotal roles in fundamental biological processes, and posttranslational modifications regulate the localization, function, and stability of helicases. Here, we report that methionine oxidation of representative helicases, including DNA and RNA helicases of viral (ORF44 of KSHV) and cellular (MCM7 and RIG-I) origin, promotes their expression and functions. Cellular viperin, a major antiviral interferon-stimulated gene whose functions beyond host defense remain largely unknown, catalyzes the methionine oxidation of these helicases. Moreover, biochemical studies entailing loss-of-function mutations of helicases and a pharmacological inhibitor interfering with lipid metabolism and, hence, decreasing viperin activity indicate that methionine oxidation potently increases the stability and enzyme activity of these helicases that are critical for DNA replication and immune activation. Our work uncovers a pivotal role of viperin in catalyzing the methionine oxidation of helicases that are implicated in diverse fundamental biological processes.


1977 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Nagasawa ◽  
Reiko Yanai

ABSTRACT Mammary structural growth in the wholemount preparation, content and synthesis of mammary DNA and RNA estimated by the incorporation of [3H]thymidine and [14C]uridine, pituitary and plasma levels of prolactin and weights and histological structures of some organs of female nude mice (nu/nu) were compared to those of the control (nu/+) with the same genetical background (BALB/c). Both at 3 months of age and on day 1 of lactation, the weights per 100 g body weight of adrenals, spleen and liver of nu/nu mice were significantly higher than those of nu/+ mice. Mammary growth stimulation by pituitary graft was much more marked in nu/nu mice than in nu/+ mice. Slight differences between groups were found in the pituitary and plasma levels of prolactin, in the histological structures of ovaries as well as of the adrenals and thyroids and in the pattern of oestrous cycles. On the other hand, the content and synthesis of mammary DNA at 3 months of age and content and synthesis of both DNA and RNA and RNA/DNA ratio on day 1 of lactation were significantly higher in nu/+ mice than in nu/nu mice. All findings suggest that thymus deficient immunosuppression has deleterious effects on mammary growth and function without its alteration in the secretion of prolactin and oestrogen and probably through its decrease in mammary responsiveness to mammotrophins.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1052-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anouk S. Lubbe ◽  
Wiktor Szymanski ◽  
Ben L. Feringa

A critical overview is given of recent applications of molecular photoswitches to modulate DNA and RNA structure and function.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob Daniel Washburn

Most plants convert sunlight into chemical energy using a process known as C[subscript 3] photosynthesis. However, some of the world's most successful plants instead use the C[subscript 4] photosynthetic pathway which allows them to more efficiently use water, nitrogen, and solar energy. In the past 30 million years, C4 photosynthesis has convergently evolved from C3 over 60 times and new lineages are in the process of evolving even today. Because of this complex evolutionary history, C[subscript 4] is not "one" uniform photosynthetic type, but a diverse collection of photosynthetic sub-types that are classically grouped according to their use of three different biochemical pathways. The grass tribe Paniceae is especially interesting in this aspect because it contains all three of these biochemical subtypes as well as important food and bioenergy crops. To better understand the evolution of C[subscript 4] photosynthesis, DNA and RNA sequencing were undertaken for various species from within the Paniceae and used for phylogenetic and comparative genomic studies. Cell type specific RNA expression profiling for the two major C4 cell types was also completed for representative species of each C[subscript 4] sub-type. Streamlined bioinformatics pipelines for both chloroplast and nuclear phylogenetics were developed for processing the data. These analyses resulted in: 1) The first "genome scale" phylogenetic tree of the grass tribe Paniceae, 2) The clearest evidence to date of the evolutionary relationships between the three classically defined C[subscript 4] sub-types, 3) The most convincing results to date that the chloroplast and nuclear phylogenies of the Paniceae are incongruent, 4) Evidence that this chloroplast nuclear incongruence is likely due to introgression and/or incomplete lineage sorting, and 5) Strong support for sub-type mixing as well as the existence of a PCK sub-type.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e4054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen D. Weynberg ◽  
Patrick W. Laffy ◽  
Elisha M. Wood-Charlson ◽  
Dmitrij Turaev ◽  
Thomas Rattei ◽  
...  

Stony corals (Scleractinia) are marine invertebrates that form the foundation and framework upon which tropical reefs are built. The coral animal associates with a diverse microbiome comprised of dinoflagellate algae and other protists, bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses. Using a metagenomics approach, we analysed the DNA and RNA viral assemblages of seven coral species from the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR), demonstrating that tailed bacteriophages of the Caudovirales dominate across all species examined, and ssDNA viruses, notably the Microviridae, are also prevalent. Most sequences with matches to eukaryotic viruses were assigned to six viral families, including four Nucleocytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDVs) families: Iridoviridae, Phycodnaviridae, Mimiviridae, and Poxviridae, as well as Retroviridae and Polydnaviridae. Contrary to previous findings, Herpesvirales were rare in these GBR corals. Sequences of a ssRNA virus with similarities to the dinornavirus, Heterocapsa circularisquama ssRNA virus of the Alvernaviridae that infects free-living dinoflagellates, were observed in three coral species. We also detected viruses previously undescribed from the coral holobiont, including a virus that targets fungi associated with the coral species Acropora tenuis. Functional analysis of the assembled contigs indicated a high prevalence of latency-associated genes in the coral-associated viral assemblages, several host-derived auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) for photosynthesis (psbA, psbD genes encoding the photosystem II D1 and D2 proteins respectively), as well as potential nematocyst toxins and antioxidants (genes encoding green fluorescent-like chromoprotein). This study expands the currently limited knowledge on coral-associated viruses by characterising viral composition and function across seven GBR coral species.


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