Evidence That Three Classes of Methylomes Specific for Stem, Somatic and Transformed Cells Are Set by Three Independent Mechanisms (Methyl-Seq)
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ABSTRACT: Whole genome-bisulfite sequencing has revealed that methylomes differ dramatically in a cell type-specific manner. However, the global mechanisms of maintenance of DNA methylation patterns and their functional consequences are not clear. Using a combination of novel haplotype-resolved methylomes and publicly available data, we show that three distinct classes of methylomes that differ by the proportion of partially and highly methylated domains are characteristic of stem and progenitor, somatic and transformed cells. We provide evidence that three mechanisms can account for most of the differences between these three classes of methylomes. The first, protection of promoters and cis-acting regulatory elements from DNA methylation by DNA-binding proteins, keeps regulatory elements unmethylated. The second, DNA replication-associated maintenance of DNA methylation, is highly efficient in stem cells, moderately efficient in somatic cells, and very inefficient in transformed cells, and sets variable basal levels of methylation characteristic of the partially methylated domains of each cell type. The third, transcriptional elongation-associated gene-body DNA methylation is responsible for the formation of highly methylated domains in somatic and transformed cells. We show that partitioning of the genome into partially and highly methylated domains is associated with different mechanisms of gene silencing.
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE84998 | GEO | 2019/07/23
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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