Abstract: Methylation Mediation Methylation of cytosine bases, 5-methylcytosine (5mC), in DNA plays an important regulatory role in mammalian genomes. Methylation patterns are often inherited across generations, but they can also be dynamic, suggesting that active DNA demethylation pathways exist. One such pathway, best characterized in plants, involves the removal of the 5mC base, and its replacement by C, via a DNA repair mechanism. Kriaucionis and Heintz (p. 929 , published online 16 April) now show that, as well as 5mC in mammalian genomes, there are...
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Topics: 
Molecular biology
Cell biology
Biochemistry