Search results for "METHYLATION"

Germline correction of an epimutation related to Silver-Russell syndrome.

2015

Like genetic mutations, DNA methylation anomalies or epimutations can disrupt gene expression and lead to human diseases. However, unlike genetic mutations, epimutations can in theory be reverted through developmental epigenetic reprograming, which should limit their transmission across generations. Following the request for a parental project of a patient diagnosed with Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS), and the availability of both somatic and spermatozoa DNA from the proband and his father, we had the exceptional opportunity to evaluate the question of inheritance of an epimutation. We provide here for the first time evidence for efficient reversion of a constitutive epimutation in the sperm…

A Survey on Tubulin and Arginine Methyltransferase Families Sheds Light on

2019

Tubulins and microtubules (MTs) represent targets for taxane-based chemotherapy. To date, several lines of evidence suggest that effectiveness of compounds binding tubulin often relies on different post-translational modifications on tubulins. Among them, methylation was recently associated to drug resistance mechanisms impairing taxanes binding. The sea urchin is recognized as a research model in several fields including fertilization, embryo development and toxicology. To date, some α- and β-tubulin genes have been identified in P. lividus, while no data are available in echinoderms for arginine methyl transferases (PRMT). To evaluate the exploiting of the sea urchin embryo in the field o…

A TR-FRET based functional assay for screening activators of CARM1

2013

Epigenome is an emerging field that demands selective cell-permeable chemical probes to perturb, especially in vivo, the activity of specific enzymes involved in modulating the epigenetic codes. Coactivator Associated Arginine (R) Methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) is a coactivator of estrogen receptor α (ERα), the main target in human breast cancer. We previously showed that overexpression of CARM1 by two-fold in MCF7 breast cancer cells increased the expression of ERα-target genes involved in differentiation and reduced cell proliferation, leading to the hypothesis that activating CARM1 by chemical activators may be therapeutically effective in breast cancer. Selective, potent, cell-permeable CA…

Phytochemical Indicaxanthin Inhibits Colon Cancer Cell Growth and Affects the DNA Methylation Status by Influencing Epigenetically Modifying Enzyme E…

2015

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Recently, we have shown anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of indicaxanthin associated with epigenetic modulation of the onco-suppressor <i>p16</i><sup><i>INK4a</i></sup> in the human colon cancer cell line CACO2. In the present study, the epigenetic activity of indicaxanthin and the mechanisms involved were further investigated in other colorectal cancer cell lines. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> LOVO1, CACO2, HT29, HCT116, and DLD1 cells were used to evaluate the potential influence of consistent dietary concentrations of indicaxanthin on DNA methylation, and the epigenetic mech…

An epigenetic ‘extreme makeover’: the methylation of flaviviral RNA (and beyond)

2020

Beyond their high clinical relevance worldwide, flaviviruses (comprising dengue and Zika viruses) are of particular interest to understand the spatiotemporal control of RNA metabolism. Indeed, their positive single-stranded viral RNA genome (vRNA) undergoes in the cytoplasm replication, translation and encapsidation, three steps of the flavivirus life cycle that are coordinated through a fine-tuned equilibrium. Over the last years, RNA methylation has emerged as a powerful mechanism to regulate messenger RNA metabolism at the posttranscriptional level. Not surprisingly, flaviviruses exploit RNA epigenetic strategies to control crucial steps of their replication cycle as well as to evade sen…

Dynamic modulation of Dnmt2-dependent tRNA methylation by the micronutrient queuine

2015

Dnmt2 enzymes are cytosine-5 methyltransferases that methylate C38 of several tRNAs. We report here that the activities of two Dnmt2 homologs, Pmt1 from Schizosaccharomyces pombe and DnmA from Dictyostelium discoideum, are strongly stimulated by prior queuosine (Q) modification of the substrate tRNA. In vivo tRNA methylation levels were stimulated by growth of cells in queuine-containing medium; in vitro Pmt1 activity was enhanced on Q-containing RNA; and queuine-stimulated in vivo methylation was abrogated by the absence of the enzyme that inserts queuine into tRNA, eukaryotic tRNA-guanine transglycosylase. Global analysis of tRNA methylation in S. pombe showed a striking selectivity of Pm…

The Dnmt2 RNA methyltransferase homolog of Geobacter sulfurreducens specifically methylates tRNA-Glu

2014

Dnmt2 enzymes are conserved in eukaryotes, where they methylate C38 of tRNA-Asp with high activity. Here, the activity of one of the very few prokaryotic Dnmt2 homologs from Geobacter species (GsDnmt2) was investigated. GsDnmt2 was observed to methylate tRNA-Asp from flies and mice. Unexpectedly, it had only a weak activity toward its matching Geobacter tRNA-Asp, but methylated Geobacter tRNA-Glu with good activity. In agreement with this result, we show that tRNA-Glu is methylated in Geobacter while the methylation is absent in tRNA-Asp. The activities of Dnmt2 enzymes from Homo sapiens, Drosophila melanogaster, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Dictyostelium discoideum for methylation of the …

Methylation of 2-phenylamino-1,3,4-thiadiazole. A structure debated

1987

The true identity of the 4-methyl-5-phenylimino-δ2-1,3,4-thiadiazoline (A) has been demonstrated. The reactions, previously reported in the literature to give A have been repeated and the structure of the compounds obtained has been established.

Catalytic Reaction Mechanism in Native and Mutant Catechol- O-methyltransferase from the Adaptive String Method and Mean Reaction Force Analysis.

2018

Catechol- O-methyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the methylation reaction of dopamine by S-adenosylmethionine, increasing the reaction rate by almost 16 orders of magnitude compared to the reaction in aqueous solution. Here, we combine the recently introduced adaptive string method and the mean reaction force method, in combination with the structural and electronic descriptors to characterize the reaction mechanism. The catalytic effect of the enzyme is addressed by the comparison of the reaction in the human wild-type enzyme, in the less effective Y68A mutant, and in aqueous solution. The influence of these different environments at different stages of the chemical process and th…

2020

Abstract RNA modifications are a well-recognized way of gene expression regulation at the post-transcriptional level. Despite the importance of this level of regulation, current knowledge on modulation of tRNA modification status in response to stress conditions is far from being complete. While it is widely accepted that tRNA modifications are rather dynamic, such variations are mostly assessed in terms of total tRNA, with only a few instances where changes could be traced to single isoacceptor species. Using Escherichia coli as a model system, we explored stress-induced modulation of 2′-O-methylations in tRNAs by RiboMethSeq. This analysis and orthogonal analytical measurements by LC-MS s…