Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kong, Yimeng
• Cao, Lei
• Deikus, Gintaras
• Fan, Yu
• Mead, Edward A
• Lai, Weiyi
• Zhang, Yizhou
• Yong, Raymund
• Sebra, Robert
• Wang, Hailin
• Zhang, Xue-Song
• Fang, Gang

Titel

Critical assessment of DNA adenine methylation in eukaryotes using quantitative deconvolution

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2022-02, Vol.375 (6580), p.515-522

Ort / Verlag

United States: The American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The discovery of N -methyldeoxyadenine (6mA) across eukaryotes led to a search for additional epigenetic mechanisms. However, some studies have highlighted confounding factors that challenge the prevalence of 6mA in eukaryotes. We developed a metagenomic method to quantitatively deconvolve 6mA events from a genomic DNA sample into species of interest, genomic regions, and sources of contamination. Applying this method, we observed high-resolution 6mA deposition in two protozoa. We found that commensal or soil bacteria explained the vast majority of 6mA in insect and plant samples. We found no evidence of high abundance of 6mA in , , or humans. Plasmids used for genetic manipulation, even those from Dam methyltransferase mutant , could carry abundant 6mA, confounding the evaluation of candidate 6mA methyltransferases and demethylases. On the basis of this work, we advocate for a reassessment of 6mA in eukaryotes.