For several decades, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has been thought to be the only DNA modification with a functional significance in metazoans. The discovery of enzymatic oxidation of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) as well as detection of N6-methyladenine (6mA) in the DNA of multicellular organisms provided additional degrees of complexity ...

BACKGROUND Replication-independent active/enzymatic demethylation may be an important process in the functioning of somatic cells. The most plausible mechanisms of active 5-methylcytosine demethylation, leading to activation of previously silenced genes, involve ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins that participate in oxidation of 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine which can be furt...

Single-strand selective monofunctional uracil-DNA glycosylase (SMUG1), previously thought to be a backup enzyme for uracil-DNA glycosylase, has recently been shown to excise 5-hydroxyuracil (hoU), 5-hydroxymethyluracil (hmU) and 5-formyluracil (fU) bearing an oxidized group at ring C5 as well as an uracil. In the present study, we used site-directed mutagenesis to construct a series of mutants ...

A lo largo de la historia diferentes pandemias han asolado a humanidad. De todas ellas, salvo Covid-19, pues aún no ha habido tiempo llevarla gran pantalla, numerosas representaciones en el cine comercial, algunas muy relevantes desde punto vista calidad cinematográfica y científica con que están documentados los guiones. Sería inalcanzable enumerar cada una ellas. Por tanto, este artículo se p...

Molecular determinants of FlA1 fluorinase specificity were probed using 5'-chloro-5'-deoxyadenosine (5'-ClDA) analogs as substrates and FlA1 active site mutants. Modifications at F213 or A279 residues are beneficial towards these modified substrates, including 5'-chloro-5'-deoxy-2-ethynyladenosine, ClDEA (>10-fold activity improvement), and conferred novel activity towards substrates not readil...

5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5 hmC), the oxidized form of 5-methylcytosine (5 mC), is a base modification with emerging importance in biology and disease. However, like most epigenetic elements, it is transparent to many conventional genetic techniques and is thus challenging to probe. Here, we report a rapid solid-state nanopore assay that is capable of resolving 5 hmC with high specificity and se...