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DNA methylation and embryogenesis

  • Chapter
DNA Methylation

Part of the book series: EXS ((EXS,volume 64))

Abstract

A large number of studies have documented the methylation patterns of individual genes and repeated sequences in different tissues of various mammalian species. This has revealed a consistent picture of DNA modification where each cell type has its characteristic pattern. Tissue-specific genes are undermethylated in their cell type of expression but fully modified in other cells, while housekeeping genes contain 5′ CpG islands which are constitutively unmethylated in all cells (see Yeivin and Razin, pp. 523–568). Experiments in tissue culture have clearly demonstrated that these somatic patterns are fixed and conservatively passed on from generation to generation (Stein et al., 1982; Wigler et al., 1991), but little is known about how this modification profile is established during early stages of embryo development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cellular Biochemistry, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel

    Aharon Razin & Howard Cedar

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  1. Aharon Razin
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  2. Howard Cedar
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich Miescher-Institut, P.O. Box 2543, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Jean-Pierre Jost

  2. IRBM, Via Pontina Km 30,600, I-00040, Pomenzia (Roma), Italy

    Hans-Peter Saluz

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© 1993 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland

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Razin, A., Cedar, H. (1993). DNA methylation and embryogenesis. In: Jost, JP., Saluz, HP. (eds) DNA Methylation. EXS, vol 64. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9118-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-9118-9_15

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-9915-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-9118-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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