Non-CG methylation is an unexplored epigenetic hallmark of pluripotent stem cells. Here we report that a reduction in non-CG methylation is associated with impaired differentiation capacity into ...

In Arabidopsis, CG methylation is found on some genes, but primarily on repeat sequences that make up transposons, as well as other repeat sequences in the genome. CHH methylation is found only where ...

In human neurons, Ecker and his collaborators found that levels of non-CG methylation increased in neurons between birth and adolescence, and then remained relatively steady, accounting for more than ...

To investigate non-CG methylation further, the researchers conducted a comprehensive profiling of the zebrafish genome, a vertebrate organism that is a distant evolutionary relative of humans and ...

Researchers don't yet know the function of that non-CG methylation in adults, but hypothesize that it may suggest the presence of stem cell populations in the adult tissues.

"What we found is that not all organs we surveyed are equal in terms of their methylation patterns," Ecker said in a statement. "The signatures of methylation are distinct enough between organs that ...

Unlike other cells in the body, neurons have two types of methylation, so the approach mapped both types—called CG methylation (for DNA sequence containing the nucleotides cytosine and guanine ...

Conventionally, DNA methylation in humans had been thought to occur almost exclusively at C's that are followed by a G in the genome sequence, so-called 'CG methylation'.

“CG and non-CG methylation exhibited cell type–specific distributions, and we identified regulatory elements with differential methylation across neuron types,” wrote the article’s authors.

Changes in the epigenome, including chemical modifications of DNA, can act as an extra layer of information in the genome, and are thought to play a role in learning and memory, as well as in age ...

One example is methylation at non-CG sites in human brain cells, aberrations of which have been linked to Rett Syndrome, a genetic disorder that impairs growth, movement and speech in children.