Case report
DNA Methylation as a Regulatory Mechanism for Gene Expression in Mammals
Alan Šerman
Maja Vlahović
Ljiljana Šerman
Floriana Bulić-Jakuš
Abstract
Epigenetics refers to the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occur without a change in DNA sequence.
In the last decade, it has been shown that epigenetic mechanisms provide an »extra« layer of transcriptional control that
regulates genes expression. Three distinct mechanisms appear intricately related in initiating and sustaining epigenetic
modifications: RNA-associated silencing, DNA methylation and histone modification. These mechanisms are critical
components in the normal development and cell growth. DNA methylation is involved in transcriptional silencing of
genes, regulation of expression of imprinted genes, a number of tumour suppressor genes in cancer and silencing of genes
located on the inactive X chromosome. In this review, we are focused on the basic principles of DNA methylation as the
main epigenetic mechanism for normal embryonic development and epigenetic alterations that contribute to carcinogenesis.
Keywords
DNA methylation; genomic imprinting; cancer
Hrčak ID:
27598
URI
Publication date:
12.5.2006.
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