Differential methylation of a CpG‐island concatemer in hemi‐ and homozygous transgenic mice

FEBS Letters

Kolstø, Anne-Brit¹  Prydz, Hans¹  Gundersen, Glenn¹ 

[1] The Biotechnology Centre of Oslo, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

关键词: Methylation-free island;    CpG island;    Thy-1.1 gene;    Transgenic mice;    bp;    base pairs;    kb;    kilobases;   

DOI  :  10.1016/0014-5793(91)81421-4

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Methylation-free islands (MFIs), clusters of non-methylated CpG-dinucleotides in mammalian genomes, are associated with a majority of studied genes. By which precise mechanism they maintain their unmethylated status is unknown. The behaviour of transgenic MFIs may contribute to unveil this enigma. We have generated a high-copy number transgenic line with the MFI from the murine Thy-1.1 allele. A stable, minor fraction of this otherwise non-methylated DNA became completely methylated in all adult tissues tested. Furthermore, individuals homozygous for the transgene showed a significantly higher proportion of methylated copies compared to the hemizygous state. These findings support the hypothesis that a limited pool of trans-acting factors are involved in maintaining the hypomethylated state.

【 授权许可】

Unknown