Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.1.1.37 (DNA methyltransferase)
4,983 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Transplantation of nuclei (NT) from engineered mouse ES cells is a potentially powerful and rapid route to create knockout mice, obviating the need for matings to obtain germ-line chimeras. However, such an application is currently impossible, because NT often results in abnormalities in embryo and placenta. Although the epigenetic instability of several imprinted genes in ES cells and ES-derived NT mice has been demonstrated, it is not clear yet what causes the abnormalities. To gain perspective on the extent and types of changes, we have done gene expression profiling for mouse placentas produced by NT of ES cells and compared them with the expression profiles of placentas produced by NT of one-cell embryos. Based on microarray studies with the NIA 15K mouse cDNA collection, we report five principal aberrant events: (1) inappropriate expression of imprinted genes; (2) altered expression of regulatory genes involved in global gene expression, such as DNA methyltransferase and histone acetyltransferase; (3) increased expression of oncogenes and growth promoting genes; (4) overexpression of genes involved in placental growth, such as Plac1; and (5) identification of many novel genes overexpressed in ES-derived NT mouse placentas, including Pitrm1, a new member of the metalloprotease family. The results indicate that placentomegaly in ES-derived NT mice is associated with large-scale dysregulation of normal gene expression patterns. The study also suggests the presence of two regulatory pathways that may lead to histologically discernable placentomegaly. The discovery of groups of genes with altered expression may provide potential targets for intervention to mimic natural regulation more faithfully in NT mice.
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PMID:Expression profiling of placentomegaly associated with nuclear transplantation of mouse ES cells. 1249 Jan 96

Tissue culture has been widely used for mass propagation of Phalaenopsis. However, somaclonal variation occurred during micropropagation process posed a severe problem by affecting product quality. In this study, wild type and peloric flower buds of Phalaenopsis hybrids derived from flower stalk nodal culture were used for cDNA-RAPD and cDNA suppression subtractive hybridization analyses in order to study their genetic difference in terms of expressed sequence tags. A total of 209 ESTs from normal flower buds and 230 from mutants were sequenced. These ESTs sequences can be grouped into several functional categories involved in different cellular processes including metabolism, signal transduction, transcription, cell growth and division, protein synthesis, and protein localization, and into a subcategory of proteins with unknown function. Cymbidium mosaic virus transcript was surprisingly found expressed frequently in the peloric mutant of P. Little Mary. Real-time RT-PCR analysis on selected ESTs showed that in mutant flower buds, a bZIP transcription factor (TGA1a-like protein) was down-regulated, while up-regulated genes include auxin-regulated protein kinase, cyclophilin, and TCP-like genes. A retroelement clone was also preferentially expressed in the peloric mutant flowers. On the other hand, ESTs involved in DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling and post-transcriptional regulation, such as DNA methyltransferase, histone acetyltransferase, ERECTA, and DEAD/DEAH RNA helicase, were enriched in normal flower buds than the mutants. The enriched transcripts in the wild type indicate the down regulation of these transcripts in the mutants, and vice versa. The potential roles of the analyzed transcripts in the development of Phalaenopsis flowers are discussed.
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PMID:Transcription analysis of peloric mutants of Phalaenopsis orchids derived from tissue culture. 1611 54

This review deals with the recent developments on the epigenetic effects of ethanol. A large body of data have come from studies in liver and in neuronal systems and involve post-translational modifications in histones and methylations in DNA. Ethanol causes site selective acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation in histone. With respect to methylations the methyl group donating system involving S-adenosyl methionine appears to play a central role. There is contrasting effect of acetylation versus methylation on the same site of histone, as it relates to the transcriptional activation. Epigenetic memory also appears to correlate with liver pathology and Mallory body formation. Experimental evidence supports transcriptional regulation of genes in the CNS by DNA methylations. These studies are contributing towards a better understanding of a novel epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the context of alcohol. The critical steps and the enzymes (e.g., histone acetyltransferase, histone deacetylase, DNA methyltransferase) responsible for the epigenetic modifications are prime targets for intense investigation. The emerging data are also beginning to offer novel insight towards defining the molecular actions of ethanol and may contribute to potential therapeutic targets at the nucleosomal level. These epigenetic studies have opened up a new avenue of investigation in the alcohol field.
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PMID:Emerging role of epigenetics in the actions of alcohol. 1861 68

Trinucleotide repeat expansion underlies at least 17 neurological diseases. In affected individuals, the expanded locus is characterized by dramatic changes in chromatin structure and in repeat tract length. Interestingly, recent studies show that several chromatin modifiers, including a histone acetyltransferase, a DNA methyltransferase and the chromatin insulator CTCF can modulate repeat instability. Here, we propose that the unusual chromatin structure of expanded repeats directly impacts their instability. We discuss several potential models for how this might occur, including a role for DNA repair-dependent epigenetic reprogramming in increasing repeat instability, and the capacity of epigenetic marks to alter sense and antisense transcription, thereby affecting repeat instability.
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PMID:Instability and chromatin structure of expanded trinucleotide repeats. 1954 13

Epigenetic modifications result in heritable changes in gene expression without changes to the DNA sequence. The most common forms of epigenetic regulation of gene expression are DNA methylation and histone acetylation or methylation, all of which are associated with chromatin remodeling. Results from recent studies suggest that epigenetic changes are some of the primary contributory factors of tumor-suppressor gene silencing in cancer cells. Compounds that target epigenetic regulators in the body may represent an attractive target for chemoprevention. Flavonoids are polyphenolic phytochemicals that exert a multitude of beneficial effects on human health. In recent years, isoflavones, flavonols and catechins have received much attention due to their ability to influence activity of chromatin-modifying enzymes. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, for example, was shown to inhibit activity of histone acetyltransferase and DNA methyltransferase. In this review, we will highlight the structure-function relationship between flavonoids and epigenetic modifications, with an emphasis on the isoflavones, flavonols and catechins, and their potential as anti-cancer agents in this regard.
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PMID:Flavonoids influence epigenetic-modifying enzyme activity: structure - function relationships and the therapeutic potential for cancer. 2034 45

The pig genome contains the gamma 1 family of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs), which are a major obstacle to the development of successful xenotransplantation from pig to human. Long terminal repeats (LTRs) found in PERVs are known to be essential elements for the control of the transcriptional activity of single virus by different transcription factors (TFs). To identify transcribed PERV LTR elements, RT-PCR and DNA sequencing analyses were performed. Twenty-nine actively transcribed LTR elements were identified in the kidney tissues of the NIH-Miniature pig. These elements were divided into two major groups (I and II), and four minor groups (I-1, I-2, I-3, and II-1), by the presence of insertion and deletion (INDEL) sequences. Group I elements showed strong transcriptional activity compared to group II elements. Four different LTR elements (PL1, PL2, PL3, and PL4) as representative of the groups were analyzed by using a transient transfection assay. The regulation of their promoter activity was investigated by treatment with M.SssI (CpG DNA methyltransferase) and garcinol (histone acetyltransferase inhibitor). The transcriptional activity of PERV LTR elements was significantly reduced by treatment with M.SssI. These data indicate that transcribed PERV LTR elements harbor sufficient promoter activity to regulate the transcription of a single virus, and the transcriptional activity of PERV LTRs may be controlled by DNA methylation events.
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PMID:Analysis of the molecular and regulatory properties of active porcine endogenous retrovirus gamma-1 long terminal repeats in kidney tissues of the NIH-Miniature pig. 2081 14

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major component of green tea polyphenols (GTP), has been reported to downregulate telomerase activity in breast cancer cells thereby increasing cellular apoptosis and inhibiting cellular proliferation. However, the major concerns with GTPs are their bioavailability and stability under physiologic conditions. In the present study, we show that treatments with EGCG and a novel prodrug of EGCG (pro-EGCG or pEGCG) dose- and time-dependently inhibited the proliferation of human breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells but not normal control MCF10A cells. Furthermore, both EGCG and pro-EGCG inhibited the transcription of hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase), the catalytic subunit of telomerase, through epigenetic mechanisms in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive MCF-7 and ER-negative MDA-MB-231 cells. The downregulation of hTERT expression was found to be because of hTERT promoter hypomethylation and histone deacetylations, mediated at least partially through inhibition of DNA methyltransferase and histone acetyltransferase activities, respectively. In addition, we also observed that EGCG and pEGCG can remodel chromatin structures of the hTERT promoter by decreasing the level of acetyl-H3, acetyl-H3K9, and acetyl-H4 to the hTERT promoter. EGCG and pEGCG induced chromatin alterations that facilitated the binding of many hTERT repressors such as MAD1 and E2F-1 to the hTERT regulatory region. Depletion of E2F-1 and MAD1 by using siRNA reversed the pEGCG downregulated hTERT expression and associated cellular apoptosis differently in ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells. Collectively, our data provide new insights into breast cancer prevention through epigenetic modulation of telomerase by using pro-EGCG, a more stable form of EGCG, as a novel chemopreventive compound.
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PMID:A novel prodrug of epigallocatechin-3-gallate: differential epigenetic hTERT repression in human breast cancer cells. 2141 98

Plants have a profound capacity to regenerate organs from differentiated somatic tissues, based on which propagating plants in vitro was made possible. Beside its use in biotechnology, in vitro shoot regeneration is also an important system to study de novo organogenesis. Phytohormones and transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) play critical roles in this process but whether and how epigenetic modifications are involved is unknown. Here, we report that epigenetic marks of DNA methylation and histone modifications regulate de novo shoot regeneration of Arabidopsis through modulating WUS expression and auxin signaling. First, functional loss of key epigenetic genes-including METHYLTRANSFERASE1 (MET1) encoding for DNA methyltransferase, KRYPTONITE (KYP) for the histone 3 lysine 9 (H3K9) methyltransferase, JMJ14 for the histone 3 lysine 4 (H3K4) demethylase, and HAC1 for the histone acetyltransferase-resulted in altered WUS expression and developmental rates of regenerated shoots in vitro. Second, we showed that regulatory regions of WUS were developmentally regulated by both DNA methylation and histone modifications through bisulfite sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation. Third, DNA methylation in the regulatory regions of WUS was lost in the met1 mutant, thus leading to increased WUS expression and its localization. Fourth, we did a genome-wide transcriptional analysis and found out that some of differentially expressed genes between wild type and met1 were involved in signal transduction of the phytohormone auxin. We verified that the increased expression of AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR3 (ARF3) in met1 indeed was due to DNA demethylation, suggesting DNA methylation regulates de novo shoot regeneration by modulating auxin signaling. We propose that DNA methylation and histone modifications regulate de novo shoot regeneration by modulating WUS expression and auxin signaling. The study demonstrates that, although molecular components involved in organogenesis are divergently evolved in plants and animals, epigenetic modifications play an evolutionarily convergent role in this process.
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PMID:DNA methylation and histone modifications regulate de novo shoot regeneration in Arabidopsis by modulating WUSCHEL expression and auxin signaling. 2187 82

Curcumin (CUR), a major bioactive polyphenolic component from turmeric curry, Curcuma longa, has been shown to be a potent anti-cancer phytochemical with well-established anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress effects. Chromatin remodeling-related epigenetic regulation has emerged as an important mechanism of carcinogenesis, chemoprevention, and chemotherapy. CUR has been found to inhibit histone acetyltransferase activity, and it was also postulated to be a potential DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. In this study, we show that when human prostate LNCaP cells were treated with CUR, it led to demethylation of the first 14 CpG sites of the CpG island of the Neurog1 gene and restored the expression of this cancer-related CpG-methylation epigenome marker gene. At the protein level, CUR treatment had limited effects on the expression of epigenetic modifying proteins MBD2, MeCP2, DNMT1, and DNMT3a. Using ChIP assay, CUR decreased MeCP2 binding to the promoter of Neurog1 dramatically. CUR treatment showed different effects on the protein expression of HDACs, increasing the expression of HDAC1, 4, 5, and 8 but decreasing HDAC3. However, the total HDAC activity was decreased upon CUR treatment. Further analysis of the tri-methylation of histone 3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3) showed that CUR decreased the enrichment of H3K27me3 at the Neurog1 promoter region as well as at the global level. Taken together, our present study provides evidence on the CpG demethylation ability of CUR on Neurog1 while activating its expression, suggesting a potential epigenetic modifying role for this phytochemical compound in human prostate cancer cells.
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PMID:Epigenetic CpG demethylation of the promoter and reactivation of the expression of Neurog1 by curcumin in prostate LNCaP cells. 2193 66

Recent breakthroughs in generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using four defined factors have revealed the potential utility of stem cells in biological research and clinical applications. However, the low efficiency and slow kinetics of reprogramming related to producing these cells and underlying safety issues, such as viral integration and genetic and epigenetic abnormalities of iPSCs, hamper the further application of iPSCs in laboratory and clinical settings. Previous studies have suggested that reprogramming efficiency can be enhanced and that reprogramming kinetics can be accelerated by manipulating epigenetic status. Herein, we review recent studies on the application of epigenome-modifying small molecules in enhancing reprogramming and functionally replacing some reprogramming factors. We mainly focus on studies that have used small molecules to interfere with epigenome-modifying enzymes, such as DNA methyltransferase, histone acetyltransferase, and histone methyltransferase. The potential use of these small molecules in inducing iPSCs and new ways to identify small molecules of higher potency and fewer side effects are also discussed.
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PMID:Application of epigenome-modifying small molecules in induced pluripotent stem cells. 2258 16


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