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Abstract

The DNA of E.coli K-12 contains 6-methyladenine (6-meA) and 5-methylcytosine (5-meC). Approximately two percent of all adenines are methylated and one percent of all cytosines (1,2,3). These methylated bases are formed by DNA methylases which transfer the methyl group from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to adenine or cytosine in specific base sequences in newly synthesized daughter strand DNA (3,4). Three distinct DNA methylases have been detected in E.coli K-12 (Table 1). For information regarding the hsd adenine methylase the reader is referred to a recent review (5).

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Marinus, M.G. (1982). DNA methylation in Escherichia coli . In: Biochemistry of S-Adenosylmethionine and Related Compounds. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06343-7_32

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