Modifications of Nuclear DNA and its Regulatory Proteins

DNA methylation is essential for the normal development and functioning of organisms. This volume discusses the latest developments in this very active field of research. It presents the evolution of DNA methylation, mammalian DNA methyltransferases, DNA methylation and demethlyation, DNA methylation and silencing and the role it plays in medicine including cancer.

* Discusses new discoveries, approaches, and ideas * Contributions from leading scholars and industry experts * Reference guide for researchers involved in molecular biology and related fields

1. Introduction – Epiphanies in Epigenetics Xiaodong Cheng and Robert M. Blumenthal

Section I. EVOLUTION OF DNA METHYLATION 2. The natural history of eukaryotic DNA methylation systems Lakshminarayan M. Iyer, Saraswathi Abhiman, L. Aravind 3. Evolution of histone methyltransferases and demethylases L. Aravind 4. DNA methylation in Drosophila – A critical evaluation Veiko Krauss and Gunter Reuter 5. DNA Methylation in Zebrafish Mary G Goll and Marnie E Halpern

Seciton II. MAMMALIAN DNA METHYLTRANSFERASES – STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION 6. Dnmt1 - structure and function Željko M. Svedružić 7. The DNMT3 family of MAMMALIAN de novo DNA methyltransferases Frédéric Chédin

Seciton III. DNA METHYLATION AND DEMETHYLATION 8. Recruitment of Dnmt1: Roles of the SRA protein Np95 (Uhrf1) and other factors Jafar Sharif & Haruhiko Koseki 9. Regulation of Expression and Activity of DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferases in mammalian cells Shannon R. Morey Kinney and Sriharsa Pradhan 10. Mechanistic and functional links between histone methylation and DNA methylation Taiping Chen

Section IV. DNA METHYLATION IN MEDICINE 11. RNA mediated silencing mechanisms in mammalian cells Anton Wutz 12. Biological functions of methyl-CpG binding proteins Pierre-Antoine Defossez and Irina Stancheva

Section V. DNA METHYLATION IN MEDICINE 13. Diseases associated with imprinting J.F. Wilkins and F. Úbeda 14. DNA methylation changes in cancer Minoru Toyota and Eiichiro Yamamoto 15. Epigenetic biomarkers J. Tost 16. Distribution of methylation at the single-nucleotide level E.