In pursuit of the first recognized epigenetic signal--DNA methylation: a 1976 to 2008 synopsis.

A synopsis will be presented of work on DNA methylation, the first epigenetic signal to be recognized. In the author's laboratory, the following problems dealing with DNA methylation have been addressed over the past 32 years: (1) The de novo methylation of foreign DNA integrated into mammalian genomes. (2) Inverse correlations between promoter methylation and activity. (3) The long-term inactivating effect of site-specific promoter methylation. (4) Adenovirus E1 functions in trans and a strong enhancer in cis cancel the silencing effect of promoter methylation. (5) Frog virus 3, an iridovirus with a completely CpG-methylated genome. (6) Mechanisms of de novo methylation. (7) Different segments of the genome possess topical methylation memories. (8) Consequences of foreign DNA insertion into mammalian genomes: alterations of DNA methylation in cis and trans. (9) The epigenetic status of an adenovirus transgenome in Ad12-transformed hamster cells. (10) Cell type-specific patterns of DNA methylation: interindividual concordance in the human genome.