Search results for "Cytosine methylation"

Nonmodal scutes patterns in the Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta): a possible epigenetic effect?

2016

Eleven specimens of the threatened Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta (L., 1758)) were caught accidentally by fishermen in different parts of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). Five of them showed an atypical number of carapacial and plastron scutes, making the immediate identification of the specimens as C. caretta difficult. Both genetic and epigenetic analysis were carried out on these specimens. Sequencing of a 649 bp sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene allowed us to classify all the individuals as C. caretta. Epigenetic analysis, performed by evaluating the total level of DNA cytosine methylation, showed a reduced and significant (F = 72.65, p < 0.01) globa…

Unique Epigenetic Features of Ribosomal RNA Genes (rDNA) in Early Diverging Plants (Bryophytes)

2019

Introduction: In plants, the multicopy genes encoding ribosomal RNA (rDNA) typically exhibit heterochromatic features and high level of DNA methylation. Here, we explored rDNA methylation in early diverging land plants from Bryophyta (15 species, 14 families) and Marchantiophyta (4 species, 4 families). DNA methylation was investigated by methylation-sensitive Southern blot hybridization in all species. We also carried out whole genomic bisulfite sequencing in Polytrichum formosum (Polytrichaceae) and Dicranum scoparium (Dicranaceae) and used available model plant methyloms (Physcomitrella patents and Marchantia polymorpha) to determine rDNA unit-wide methylation patterns. Chromatin structu…

Cytosine methylation patterns suggest a role of methylation in plastic and adaptive responses to temperature in European grayling (Thymallus thymallu…

2020

Temperature is a key environmental parameter affecting both the phenotypes and distributions of organisms, particularly ectotherms. Rapid organismal responses to thermal environmental changes have been described for several ectotherms; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms often remain unclear. Here, we studied whole genome cytosine methylation patterns of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) embryos from five populations with contemporary adaptations of early life history traits at either 'colder' or 'warmer' spawning grounds. We reared fish embryos in a common garden experiment using two temperatures that resembled the 'colder' and 'warmer' conditions of the natal natural enviro…

The SCO1731 methyltransferase modulates actinorhodin production and morphological differentiation of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

2018

AbstractStreptomyces coelicolor is a Gram-positive microorganism often used as a model of physiological and morphological differentiation in streptomycetes, prolific producers of secondary metabolites with important biological activities. In the present study, we analysed Streptomyces coelicolor growth and differentiation in the presence of the hypo-methylating agent 5′-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) in order to investigate whether cytosine methylation has a role in differentiation. We found that cytosine demethylation caused a delay in spore germination, aerial mycelium development, sporulation, as well as a massive impairment of actinorhodin production. Thus, we searched for putative DNA…

Streptomyces coelicolor: DNA cytosine methylation and differentiation

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification regulating many aspects of biological processes. DNA cytosine methylation plays mainly a regulatory role in chromatin organization, genome maintenance and gene expression in eukaryotes, while its role in prokaryotes has been less studied. Streptomyces coelicolor is a mycelial soil microorganism, producer of several antibiotics, with a complex life cycle that includes three different cell types: unigenomic spores, a compartmentalized mycelium (MI) and a multinucleated mycelium (substrate, aerial and sporulating, MII). This life cycle is finely regulated through several mechanisms: two events of programmed cell death, PCD, and three biochemical pa…