Structural Origins of DNA Target Selection and Nucleobase Extrusion by a DNA Cytosine Methyltransferase

DNMT 1 ( DNA ( cytosine - 5 - ) - methyltransferase 1 ) )

DNA ( cytosine - 5 ) - methyltransferase 1 - [ Isoform 1 ]

The murine equivalent of the human DNMT1 (DNA [cytosine-5]-methyltransferase 1; Swiss-Prot accession number: P26358) gene was deleted in ES cells via gene targeting [1]. Dnmt1-/cells possessed dramatically decreased genomic methylation and were viable; however, the mutation caused a homozygous lethal phenotype when introduced into the germline (see Table of experimental models for DNMT1) [1]. C...

Investigating the target recognition of DNA cytosine-5 methyltransferase HhaI by library selection using in vitro compartmentalisation.

In vitro compartmentalisation (IVC), a technique for selecting genes encoding enzymes based on compartmentalising gene translation and enzymatic reactions in emulsions, was used to investigate the interaction of the DNA cytosine-5 methyltransferase M.HhaI with its target DNA (5'-GCGC-3'). Crystallography shows that the active site loop from the large domain of M.HhaI interacts with a flipped-ou...

Protein-facilitated base flipping in DNA by cytosine-5-methyltransferase.

DNA methylation, various DNA repair mechanisms, and possibly early events in the opening of DNA as required for transcription and replication are initiated by flipping of a DNA base out of the DNA double helix. The energetics and structural mechanism of base flipping in the presence of the DNA-processing enzyme, cytosine 5-methyltransferase from HhaI (M.HhaI), were obtained through molecular dy...

Cytosine-to-Uracil Deamination by SssI DNA Methyltransferase

The prokaryotic DNA(cytosine-5)methyltransferase M.SssI shares the specificity of eukaryotic DNA methyltransferases (CG) and is an important model and experimental tool in the study of eukaryotic DNA methylation. Previously, M.SssI was shown to be able to catalyze deamination of the target cytosine to uracil if the methyl donor S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) was missing from the reaction. To test ...