Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 29, 2025

Immunostaining for DNA Modifications: Computational Analysis of Confocal Images
Published on: September 7, 2017
A comparative methylome analysis reveals conservation and divergence of DNA methylation patterns and functions in
Hala Al Adhami1,2, Anaïs Flore Bardet1,2, Michael Dumas1,2
1University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
Background:
Cytosine DNA methylation is a heritable epigenetic mark present in most eukaryotic groups. While the patterns and functions of DNA methylation have been extensively studied in mouse and human, their conservation in other vertebrates remains poorly explored. In this study, we interrogated the distribution and function of DNA methylation in primary fibroblasts of seven vertebrate species including bio-medical models and livestock species (human, mouse, rabbit, dog, cow, pig, and chicken).
Results:
Our data highlight both divergence and conservation of DNA methylation patterns and functions. We show that the chicken genome is hypomethylated compared to other vertebrates. Furthermore, compared to mouse, other species show a higher frequency of methylation of CpG-rich DNA. We reveal the conservation of large unmethylated valleys and patterns of DNA methylation associated with X-chromosome inactivation through vertebrate evolution and make predictions of conserved sets of imprinted genes across mammals. Finally, using chemical inhibition of DNA methylation, we show that the silencing of germline genes and endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are conserved functions of DNA methylation in vertebrates.
Conclusions:
Our data highlight conserved properties of DNA methylation in vertebrate genomes but at the same time point to differences between mouse and other vertebrate species.
More Related Videos
07:16Rapid and Efficient Spatiotemporal Monitoring of Normal and Aberrant Cytosine Methylation within Intact Zebrafish Embryos
Published on: August 18, 2022
07:50Immunohistochemical Detection of 5-Methylcytosine and 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine in Developing and Postmitotic Mouse Retina
Published on: August 29, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Multi-species Conserved Sequences
Although the genome of each species varies greatly from each other, a few sequences are highly conserved. Such conserved...
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Position-effect Variegation
Epigenetic Regulation
X-chromosome...
Convergent Evolution
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...