SINCE ITS FIRST recognition in 1948, the fifth base of human DNA, 5-methylcytosine (5-mC)
has generated much interest and considerable controversy during attempts to understand its …

The rapid advances in high‐throughput sequencing technologies have made it more evident
that epigenetic modifications orchestrate a plethora of complex biological processes. During …

DNA methylation changes are among the most common detectable abnormalities in human
neoplasia. Hypermethylation within the promoters of selected genes appears to be …

About 60% of CpG dinucleotides in vertebrate DNA are methylated at position 5 of the
cytosine base. DNA methylation is essential for mammalian development [11, but places a …

Leukaemogenesis is a multi-step process whereby a clonal population arises that has
undergone successive alterations to the genotype and the phenotype of the cells that make …

Two classes of functional DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferases have been discovered in
mammals to date. One class methylates the unmodified DNA and is designated as the de …

Aberrant DNA methylation has been observed consistently in many human tumours, in
particular in the CpG islands of tumour suppressor genes, but the underlying mechanism of …

We have studied the effect of DNA methylation on human y-globin gene expression, using a
novel in vitro DNA methylation technique. With this method we have methylated specific …

DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) are an evolutionarily conserved family of DNA
methylases, transferring a methyl group onto the fifth carbon of a cytosine residue. The …

Summary Eukaryotic genomes contain 5-methylcytosine (5mC) as a rare base. 5mC arises
by postsynthetic modification of cytosine and occurs, at least in animals, predominantly in …