TY - JOUR
T1 - A common mode of recognition for methylated CpG
AU - Liu, Yiwei
AU - Zhang, Xing
AU - Blumenthal, Robert M.
AU - Cheng, Xiaodong
N1 - Funding Information:
Y.L. performed all experiments and sequence analyses and all were involved in analyzing data and preparing the manuscript. The US National Institutes of Health (grant GM049245-19 to X.C. and X.Z.) and National Science Foundation (grant MCB-0964728 to R.M.B.) supported this work. X.C. is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and R.M.B. is a U.T. Distinguished University Professor. The authors thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Much is known about vertebrate DNA methylation, however it is not known how methylated CpG within particular sequences is recognized. Two recent structures of C2H2 zinc finger (ZnF) proteins in complex with methylated DNA reveal a common recognition mode for 5-methylcytosine (5mC) that involves a 5mC-Arg-G triad. In the two ZnF proteins, an arginine that precedes the first Zn-binding histidine (RH motif) can interact with a 5mCpG or TpG dinucleotide. Among a family of >300 human Krüppel-associated box (KRAB) domain containing ZnF proteins examined, two-thirds contained at least one ZnF that included an RH motif. We propose that the RH-ZnF motifs provide specificity for 5mCpG, whereas the neighboring Zn fingers recognize the surrounding DNA sequence context.
AB - Much is known about vertebrate DNA methylation, however it is not known how methylated CpG within particular sequences is recognized. Two recent structures of C2H2 zinc finger (ZnF) proteins in complex with methylated DNA reveal a common recognition mode for 5-methylcytosine (5mC) that involves a 5mC-Arg-G triad. In the two ZnF proteins, an arginine that precedes the first Zn-binding histidine (RH motif) can interact with a 5mCpG or TpG dinucleotide. Among a family of >300 human Krüppel-associated box (KRAB) domain containing ZnF proteins examined, two-thirds contained at least one ZnF that included an RH motif. We propose that the RH-ZnF motifs provide specificity for 5mCpG, whereas the neighboring Zn fingers recognize the surrounding DNA sequence context.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tibs.2012.12.005
DO - 10.1016/j.tibs.2012.12.005
M3 - Review article
C2 - 23352388
AN - SCOPUS:84875505675
SN - 0968-0004
VL - 38
SP - 177
EP - 183
JO - Trends in Biochemical Sciences
JF - Trends in Biochemical Sciences
IS - 4
ER -