Conservation and divergence in eukaryotic DNA methylation

摘要

Cytosine methylation is a common DNA modification found in most eukaryotic organisms including plants, animals, and fungi (1, 2). The addition of a methyl group to cytosine nucleotides in DNA does not change the primary DNA sequence, but the covalent modification of DNA by methylation can impact gene expression and activity in a heritable fashion. This type of epigenetic regulation through DNA methylation appears to be a critical process, in an evolutionary sense, with highly conserved enzymes mediating the process (3).