Epigenetic marks or not? The discovery of novel DNA modifications in eukaryotes.

J Biol Chem

Key Laboratory of Spine and Spinal Cord Injury Repair and Regeneration of Ministry of Education, Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji University, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address:

Published: April 2024

DNA modifications add another layer of complexity to the eukaryotic genome to regulate gene expression, playing critical roles as epigenetic marks. In eukaryotes, the study of DNA epigenetic modifications has been confined to 5mC and its derivatives for decades. However, rapid developing approaches have witnessed the expansion of DNA modification reservoirs during the past several years, including the identification of 6mA, 5gmC, 4mC, and 4acC in diverse organisms. However, whether these DNA modifications function as epigenetic marks requires careful consideration. In this review, we try to present a panorama of all the DNA epigenetic modifications in eukaryotes, emphasizing recent breakthroughs in the identification of novel DNA modifications. The characterization of their roles in transcriptional regulation as potential epigenetic marks is summarized. More importantly, the pathways for generating or eliminating these DNA modifications, as well as the proteins involved are comprehensively dissected. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the potential challenges and perspectives, which should be taken into account while investigating novel DNA modifications.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11065753PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2024.106791DOI Listing

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