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HEREDITAS ›› 2012, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (9): 1108-1113.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1005.2012.01108

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DNA methylation in vertebrate embryogenesis

YANG Xiao-Dan1, HAN Wei1, LIU Feng2   

  1. 1. School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China 2. State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2012-02-27 Revised:2012-05-02 Online:2012-09-20 Published:2012-09-25

Abstract: 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 me-thylation in vertebrate embryogenesis will provide insights for new treatment of DNA methylation-related human diseases.

Key words: DNA methylation, DNA methyltransferase, hematopoiesis, embryogenesis, zebrafish, mouse