Branco Miguel R, Oda Masaaki, Reik Wolf
Laboratory of Developmental Genetics and Imprinting, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge CB22 3AT, United Kingdom.
Genes Dev. 2008 Jun 15;22(12):1567-71. doi: 10.1101/gad.1690508.
During early mammalian embryogenesis, the genome undergoes global epigenetic reprogramming, losing most of its methylation before re-establishing it de novo at implantation. However, faithful maintenance of methylation at imprinted genes during this process is vital for embryonic development, but the DNA methyltransferase responsible for this maintenance has remained unknown. In this issue of Genes & Development, Hirasawa and colleagues (pp. 1607-1616) show that Dnmt1, and not Dnmt3a or Dnmt3b, maintains methylation at genomic imprints during preimplantation development.
在早期哺乳动物胚胎发生过程中,基因组经历全面的表观遗传重编程,在植入前重新从头建立甲基化之前,大部分甲基化会丢失。然而,在此过程中,印记基因甲基化的忠实维持对胚胎发育至关重要,但负责这种维持的DNA甲基转移酶一直未知。在本期《基因与发育》中,平泽及其同事(第1607 - 1616页)表明,在植入前发育过程中,维持基因组印记甲基化的是Dnmt1,而非Dnmt3a或Dnmt3b。