Recent Advances in Biological Methylation

A special issue of Epigenomes (ISSN 2075-4655).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 15347

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Hess Center for Science and Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA
Interests: methyltransferases; transcription; splicing; cancer; genomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The dynamics of histone methylation/demethylation (both on arginines and lysines) and of RNA epitranscriptomics have recently emerged as two of the most exciting areas of study in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. In this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of both reviews and original papers broadly dealing with advances in the field of biological methylation.

Dr. Ernesto Guccione
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Epigenomes is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 3932 KiB  
Article
Thermal Stability Changes in Telomeric G-Quadruplex Structures Due to N6-Methyladenine Modification
by Ryohei Wada and Wataru Yoshida
Epigenomes 2021, 5(1), 5; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/epigenomes5010005 - 02 Feb 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3711
Abstract
N6-methyladenine modification (m6dA) has recently been identified in eukaryote genomic DNA. The methylation destabilizes the duplex structure when the adenine forms a Watson–Crick base pair, whereas the methylation on a terminal unpaired adenine stabilizes the duplex structure by increasing [...] Read more.
N6-methyladenine modification (m6dA) has recently been identified in eukaryote genomic DNA. The methylation destabilizes the duplex structure when the adenine forms a Watson–Crick base pair, whereas the methylation on a terminal unpaired adenine stabilizes the duplex structure by increasing the stacking interaction. In this study, the effects of m6dA modification on the thermal stability of four distinct telomeric G-quadruplex (G4) structures were investigated. The m6dA-modified telomeric oligonucleotide d[AGGG(TTAGGG)3] that forms a basket-type G4 in Na+, d[(TTAGGG)4TT] that forms a hybrid-type G4 in K+ (Form-2), d[AAAGGG(TTAGGG)3AA] that forms a hybrid-type G4 in K+ (Form-1), and d[GGG(TTAGGG)3T] that forms a basket-type G4 with two G-tetrads in K+ (Form-3) were analyzed. Circular dichroism melting analysis demonstrated that (1) A7- and A19-methylation destabilized the basket-type G4 structure that formed in Na+, whereas A13-methylation stabilized the structure; (2) A15-methylation stabilized the Form-2 G4 structure; (3) A15- and A21-methylations stabilized the Form-1 G4 structure; and (4) A12-methylation stabilized the Form-3 G4 structure. These results suggest that m6dA modifications may affect the thermal stability of human telomeric G4 structures in regulating the biological functions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biological Methylation)
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22 pages, 6850 KiB  
Article
Epigenetics of Skeletal Muscle-Associated Genes in the ASB, LRRC, TMEM, and OSBPL Gene Families
by Kenneth C. Ehrlich, Michelle Lacey and Melanie Ehrlich
Epigenomes 2020, 4(1), 1; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/epigenomes4010001 - 30 Jan 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5283
Abstract
Much remains to be discovered about the intersection of tissue-specific transcription control and the epigenetics of skeletal muscle (SkM), a very complex and dynamic organ. From four gene families, Leucine-Rich Repeat Containing (LRRC), Oxysterol Binding Protein Like (OSBPL), Ankyrin Repeat and [...] Read more.
Much remains to be discovered about the intersection of tissue-specific transcription control and the epigenetics of skeletal muscle (SkM), a very complex and dynamic organ. From four gene families, Leucine-Rich Repeat Containing (LRRC), Oxysterol Binding Protein Like (OSBPL), Ankyrin Repeat and Socs Box (ASB), and Transmembrane Protein (TMEM), we chose 21 genes that are preferentially expressed in human SkM relative to 52 other tissue types and analyzed relationships between their tissue-specific epigenetics and expression. We also compared their genetics, proteomics, and descriptions in the literature. For this study, we identified genes with little or no previous descriptions of SkM functionality (ASB4, ASB8, ASB10, ASB12, ASB16, LRRC14B, LRRC20, LRRC30, TMEM52, TMEM233, OSBPL6/ORP6, and OSBPL11/ORP11) and included genes whose SkM functions had been previously addressed (ASB2, ASB5, ASB11, ASB15, LRRC2, LRRC38, LRRC39, TMEM38A/TRIC-A, and TMEM38B/TRIC-B). Some of these genes have associations with SkM or heart disease, cancer, bone disease, or other diseases. Among the transcription-related SkM epigenetic features that we identified were: super-enhancers, promoter DNA hypomethylation, lengthening of constitutive low-methylated promoter regions, and SkM-related enhancers for one gene embedded in a neighboring gene (e.g., ASB8-PFKM, LRRC39-DBT, and LRRC14B-PLEKHG4B gene-pairs). In addition, highly or lowly co-expressed long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes probably regulate several of these genes. Our findings give insights into tissue-specific epigenetic patterns and functionality of related genes in a gene family and can elucidate normal and disease-related regulation of gene expression in SkM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biological Methylation)
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Review

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22 pages, 1727 KiB  
Review
The Role of the PRMT5–SND1 Axis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
by Tanner Wright, Yalong Wang and Mark T. Bedford
Epigenomes 2021, 5(1), 2; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/epigenomes5010002 - 05 Jan 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5399
Abstract
Arginine methylation is an essential post-translational modification (PTM) deposited by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) and recognized by Tudor domain-containing proteins. Of the nine mammalian PRMTs, PRMT5 is the primary enzyme responsible for the deposition of symmetric arginine methylation marks in cells. The staphylococcal [...] Read more.
Arginine methylation is an essential post-translational modification (PTM) deposited by protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) and recognized by Tudor domain-containing proteins. Of the nine mammalian PRMTs, PRMT5 is the primary enzyme responsible for the deposition of symmetric arginine methylation marks in cells. The staphylococcal nuclease and Tudor domain-containing 1 (SND1) effector protein is a key reader of the marks deposited by PRMT5. Both PRMT5 and SND1 are broadly expressed and their deregulation is reported to be associated with a range of disease phenotypes, including cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an example of a cancer type that often displays elevated PRMT5 and SND1 levels, and there is evidence that hyperactivation of this axis is oncogenic. Importantly, this pathway can be tempered with small-molecule inhibitors that target PRMT5, offering a therapeutic node for cancer, such as HCC, that display high PRMT5–SND1 axis activity. Here we summarize the known activities of this writer–reader pair, with a focus on their biological roles in HCC. This will help establish a foundation for treating HCC with PRMT5 inhibitors and also identify potential biomarkers that could predict sensitivity to this type of therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biological Methylation)
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