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CpG Islands: A Historical Perspective

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Book cover CpG Islands

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1766))

Abstract

The discovery of CpG islands (CGIs) and the study of their structure and properties run parallel to the development of molecular biology in the last two decades of the twentieth century and to the development of high-throughput genomic technologies at the turn of the millennium. First identified as discrete G + C-rich regions of unmethylated DNA in several vertebrates, CGIs were soon found to display additional distinctive chromatin features from the rest of the genome in terms of accessibility and of the epigenetic modifications of their histones. These features, together with their colocalization with promoters and with origins of DNA replication in mammals, highlighted their relevance in the regulation of genomic processes. Recent approaches have shown with unprecedented detail the dynamics and diversity of the epigenetic landscape of CGIs during normal development and under pathological conditions. Also, comparative analyses across species have started revealing how CGIs evolve and contribute to the evolution of the vertebrate genome.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biología Funcional y Genómica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)/Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Francisco Antequera

  2. Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, Michael Swann Building, Edinburgh, EH9 3BF, UK

    Adrian Bird

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  1. Francisco Antequera
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Correspondence to Francisco Antequera .

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  1. Josep Carreras Leukaemia, Research Institute, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain

    Tanya Vavouri

  2. IGTP, IMPPC, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain

    Miguel A. Peinado

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Antequera, F., Bird, A. (2018). CpG Islands: A Historical Perspective. In: Vavouri, T., Peinado, M. (eds) CpG Islands. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1766. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7768-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7768-0_1

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