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The mysterious presence of a 5-methylcytosine oxidase in the Drosophila genome

Possible explanations

, , &
Pages 3357-3365 | Received 05 Sep 2013, Accepted 18 Sep 2013, Published online: 19 Sep 2013
 

Abstract

5-methylcytosine is an important epigenetic modification involved in gene control in vertebrates and many other complex living organisms. Its presence in Drosophila has been a matter of debate and recent bisulfite sequencing studies of early-stage fly embryos have concluded that the genome of Drosophila is essentially unmethylated. However, as we outline here, the Drosophila genome harbors a well-conserved homolog of the TET protein family. The mammalian orthologs TET1/2/3 are known to convert 5-methylcytosine into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. We discuss several possible explanations for these seemingly contradictory findings. One possibility is that the 2 modified cytosine bases are generated in Drosophila only at certain developmental stages and in a cell type-specific manner during neurogenesis. Alternatively, Drosophila Tet and its mammalian homologs may carry out catalytic activity-independent functions, and the possibility that these proteins may oxidize 5-methylcytosine in RNA created by the methyltransferase Dnmt2 should also be strongly considered.

10.4161/cc.26540

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

Work of the authors was supported by NIH grant CA160965 to GPP.

Supplemental Materials

Supplemental materials may be found here: www.landesbioscience.com/journals/cc/article/26540

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