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Lack of evidence for DNA methylation of Invader4 retroelements in Drosophila and implications for Dnmt2-mediated epigenetic regulation

Nature Genetics volume 42, pages 920–921 (2010)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

In a recent issue of Nature Genetics, Phalke et al.1 described a new pathway for transposon silencing and telomere integrity in Drosophila that depends on the DNA methyltransferase homolog Dnmt2. Dnmt2 proteins are the most conserved members of the DNA methyltransferase family, but their substrate specificity has been discussed controversially within the scientific community2. Previous observations include a weak and highly distributive DNA methyltransferase activity of human DNMT2 in cell-free assays3, spurious DNA methylation in Drosophila4 and highly specific transfer RNA (tRNA) methyltransferase activity for cytosine 38 of tRNAAsp in mice, flies and plants5. All these observations seemed difficult to reconcile with the processive DNA methyltransferase activity in every dinucleotide context, as observed by Phalke et al.1, at Drosophila Invader4 retroelements. Furthermore, a recent genome-wide bisulfite sequencing study concluded that transposons are unmethylated in various invertebrates and, specifically, in 0–3-hour-old Drosophila embryos6.

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Figure 1: Dnmt2 does not methylate Invader4 LTR sequences.

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References

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to M.S and F.L. (Priority Programme Epigenetics, FOR1082).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epigenetics, DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    Matthias Schaefer & Frank Lyko

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  1. Matthias Schaefer
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  2. Frank Lyko
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Contributions

M.S. performed the DNA methylation analysis. M.S. and F.L. conceived the study and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Lyko.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table, Methods and Note

Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Note (PDF 1259 kb)

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Schaefer, M., Lyko, F. Lack of evidence for DNA methylation of Invader4 retroelements in Drosophila and implications for Dnmt2-mediated epigenetic regulation. Nat Genet 42, 920–921 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1110-920

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