1Cademy - Methylation of CpG Sites

Concept

Methylation of CpG Sites

Methylated cytosines are found primarily at CpG dinucleotides, but are also found at non-CpG sites.
- Most 5mCs are highly conserved epigenetic marks and are mostly found at CpG sites, where 70-80% of cytosines are methylated.
- If CpG sites located in a gene body are hypermethylated, gene expression is increased.
- If CpG sites located in promoters or enhancers are hypermethylated, these regions cannot be bound by transcription factors, leading to trasncriptional silencing.
Non-CpG methylation is restricted to specific cell types.
- e.g., pluripotent stem cells, oocytes, neurons, and glial cells.
- Accumulation of methylation at non-CpG sites and CpG sites in neurons seems to be involved in development and disease etiology.

Updated 2021-10-03

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