Genome-wide evolutionary analysis of eukaryotic DNA methylation
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ABSTRACT: Eukaryotic cytosine methylation represses transposable elements, but also occurs in bodies of active genes. The extent to which these processes are conserved is unclear, and little is known about methylation outside of mammals, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Neurospora crassa. Utilizing deep bisulfite sequencing, we have quantified DNA methylation in five plant, seven animal, and five fungal genomes. We find that gene body methylation is conserved between plants and animals, whereas selective methylation of transposons has evolved independently in the vertebrate lineage. We show that methylation of plant transposons in the CHG context extends to green algae, and present evidence for RNA-directed DNA methylation of fungal genes. We also show that antagonism between DNA methylation and histone H2A.Z is conserved between plants and animals. Our data demonstrate that extant DNA methylation systems are mosaics of conserved and derived features, and indicate that gene body methylation is an ancient property of eukaryotic genomes. Keywords: Epigenetics
ORGANISM(S): Tribolium castaneum Phycomyces blakesleeanus Uncinocarpus reesii Coprinopsis cinerea Chlorella variabilis Physcomitrium patens Apis mellifera Drosophila melanogaster Volvox carteri Oryza sativa Selaginella moellendorffii Nematostella vectensis Postia placenta Laccaria bicolor Ciona intestinalis Tetraodon nigroviridis Bombyx mori
PROVIDER: GSE19824 | GEO | 2010/04/15
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA122153
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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