DNA Methylation Dynamics in Neurogenesis

Abstract

Neurogenesis is not limited to the embryonic stage, but continually proceeds in the adult brain throughout life. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, histone modification and noncoding RNA, play important roles in neurogenesis. For decades, DNA methylation was thought to be a stable modification, except for demethylation in the early embryo. In recent years, DNA methylation has proved to be dynamic during development. In this review, we summarize the latest understanding about DNA methylation dynamics in neurogenesis, including the roles of different methylation forms (5-methylcytosine, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, 5-formylcytosine and 5-carboxylcytosine), as well as their ‘writers’, ‘readers’ and interactions with histone modifications.

Keywords::

• DNA methylation
• DNA methyltransferase
• histone modification
• neurogenesis
• TET family protein

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank C Strauss for critical reading of the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors were supported in part by grants from the NIH (NS079625, NS05160 and MH102690 to P Jin). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The authors were supported in part by grants from the NIH (NS079625, NS05160 and MH102690 to P Jin). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.