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Abstract
DNA methylation occurs on cytosines, is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), and is present at high levels in all vertebrates. DNA methylation plays essential roles in maintaining genome integrity, but its implication in orchestrating gene-expression patterns remained a matter of debate for a long time. Recent efforts to map DNA methylation at the genome level helped to get a better picture of the distribution of this mark and revealed that DNA methylation is more dynamic between cell types than previously anticipated. In particular, these datasets showed that DNA methylation is targeted to important developmental genes and might act as a barrier to prevent accidental cellular reprogramming. In this review, we will discuss the distribution and function of DNA methylation in mammalian genomes, with particular emphasis on the waves of global DNA methylation reprogramming occurring in early embryos and primordial germ cells.
Acknowledgements
We thank Robert Feil and Philippe Arnaud for useful comments on the manuscript.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
Research in our laboratory is supported by funds from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer (ARC contract N°4868), Agence Nationale de le Recherche (ANR-07-BLAN-0052–02) and CEFIC Long Research Initiative (LRI-EMSG49-CNRS-08). 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.