Liu Shan, Morihiro Kunihiko, Takeuchi Fumika, Li Yufeng, Okamoto Akimitsu
Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
The Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology of Hebei Province, Tangshan People's Hospital, Tangshan, Hebei, China.
Front Chem. 2023 Jan 13;11:1122474. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1122474. eCollection 2023.
DNA methylation plays an important physiological function in cells, and environmental changes result in fluctuations in DNA methylation levels. Metal ions have become both environmental and health concerns, as they have the potential to disrupt the genomic DNA methylation status, even on specific sequences. In the current research, the methylation status of two typical repetitive DNA elements, i.e., long-interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1) and alpha satellite (α-sat), was imaged and assessed using methylation-specific fluorescence hybridization (MeFISH). This technique elucidated the effect of several metal ions on the methylation levels of repetitive DNA sequences. The upregulation and downregulation of the methylation levels of repetitive DNA elements by various metal ions were confirmed and depended on their concentration. This is the first example to investigate the effects of metal ions on DNA methylation in a sequence-specific manner.
DNA甲基化在细胞中发挥着重要的生理功能，环境变化会导致DNA甲基化水平的波动。金属离子已成为环境和健康问题，因为它们有可能破坏基因组DNA的甲基化状态，甚至影响特定序列。在当前的研究中，使用甲基化特异性荧光杂交（MeFISH）对两种典型的重复DNA元件，即长散在核元件1（LINE-1）和α卫星（α-sat）的甲基化状态进行了成像和评估。该技术阐明了几种金属离子对重复DNA序列甲基化水平的影响。证实了各种金属离子对重复DNA元件甲基化水平的上调和下调作用，且这取决于它们的浓度。这是以序列特异性方式研究金属离子对DNA甲基化影响的首个实例。
