Yang Xiao-Dan, Han Wei, Liu Feng
School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China.
Yi Chuan. 2012 Sep;34(9):1108-13.
DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that regulates temporal and spatial expression of genes for controlling cell fate and differentiation. Recently, DNA methylation has been demonstrated to be required for vertebrate early embryogenesis. Loss of Dnmt genes in zebrafish and mice caused defects in organogenesis and tissue terminal differentiation. This paper summarizes the dynamic expression pattern of Dnmt genes and the roles of DNA methylation from early embryogenesis to organogenesis in both mice and zebrafish, specifically, how DNA methylation and histone modifications cooperatively regulate gene transcription during these processes. Better understanding of DNA methylation in vertebrate embryogenesis will provide insights for new treatment of DNA methylation-related human diseases.
DNA甲基化是一种重要的表观遗传修饰，可调节基因的时空表达以控制细胞命运和分化。最近，已证明DNA甲基化是脊椎动物早期胚胎发育所必需的。斑马鱼和小鼠中Dnmt基因的缺失导致器官发生和组织终末分化出现缺陷。本文总结了小鼠和斑马鱼中Dnmt基因的动态表达模式以及从早期胚胎发育到器官发生过程中DNA甲基化的作用，具体而言，即这些过程中DNA甲基化和组蛋白修饰如何协同调节基因转录。更好地了解脊椎动物胚胎发育中的DNA甲基化将为DNA甲基化相关人类疾病的新治疗方法提供思路。
