Core members of the MBD protein family (MeCP2, MBD1, MBD2 and MBD4) share a methyl-CpG-binding domain that has a specific affinity for methylated CpG sites in double-stranded DNA. By multimerizing the MDB domain of Mbd1, we engineered a poly-MBD protein that displays methyl-CpG-specific binding in vitro with a dissociation constant that is >50-fold higher than that of a monomeric MBD. Poly-MBD ...

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification involved in both normal developmental processes and disease states through the modulation of gene expression and the maintenance of genomic organization. Conventional methods of DNA methylation analysis, such as bisulfite sequencing, methylation sensitive restriction enzyme digestion and array-based detection techniques, have major limitations that ...

Planarian adult stem cells (pASCs) or neoblasts represent an ideal system to study the evolution of stem cells and pluripotency as they underpin an unrivaled capacity for regeneration. We wish to understand the control of differentiation and pluripotency in pASCs and to understand how conserved, convergent or divergent these mechanisms are across the Bilateria. Here we show the planarian methyl...

Methylation of DNA in mammalian cells serves to demarcate functionally specialized regions of the genome and is strongly associated with transcriptional repression. A highly conserved family of DNA-binding proteins characterized by a common sequence motif is widely believed to convert the information represented by methylation patterns into the appropriate functional state. This family, the MBD...

In contrast to mice, in sheep no genome-wide demethylation of the paternal genome occurs within the first postfertilization cell cycle. This difference could be due either to an absence of a sheep demethylase activity that is present in mouse ooplasm or to an increased protection of methylated cytosine residues in sheep sperm. Here, we use interspecies intracytoplasmic sperm injection to demons...

We describe a novel methylation-sensitive nucleic acid (RNA) probe which switches conformation according to its methylation status. When combined with a differential scanning fluorimetry technique, it enables highly sensitive and selective detection of demethylase activity at a single methylated-base level. The approach is highly versatile and may be adapted to a broad range of RNA demethylases.

Histone lysine methylation and demethylation regulate histone methylation dynamics, which impacts chromatin structure and function. To read and erase the methylated histone residues, lysine demethylases must specifically recognize the histone sequences and methylated sites and discriminate the degree of these methylations. In this issue of Genes & Development, Cheng and colleagues (pp. 1758-177...

DNA methylation and histone modifications interact to modulate gene expression in biological organisms. The histone demethylase IBM1 suppresses DNA methylation and gene silencing, primarily by targeting genic regions in the Arabidopsis genome. The chromatin regulator EDM2 is also required for prevention of genic DNA methylation because it maintains IBM1 expression by promoting IBM1 mRNA distal ...