Maintaining the unmethylated state

Abstract

BackgroundA remarkable correspondence exists between the cytogenetic locations of the known fragile sites and frequently reported sites of hypermethylation. The best-known features of fragile sites are sequence motifs that are prone to the spontaneous formation of a non-B DNA structure. These facts, coupled with the known enzymological specificities of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), the ATP-dependent and actin-dependent helicases, and the ten-eleven translocation (TET) dioxygenases, suggest that these enzymes are involved in an epigenetic cycle that maintains the unmethylated state at these sites by resolving non-B structure, preventing both the sequestration of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and hypermethylation in normal cells.Presentation of the hypothesisThe innate tendency of DNA sequences present at fragile sites to form non-B DNA structures results in de novo methylation of DNA at these sites that is held in check in normal cells by the action of ATP-dependent and actin-dependent helicases coupled with the action of TET dioxygenases. This constitutes a previously unrecognized epigenetic repair cycle in which spontaneously forming non-B DNA structures formed at fragile sites are methylated by DNMTs as they are removed by the action of ATP-dependent and actin-dependent helicases, with the resulting nascent methylation rendered non-transmissible by TET dioxygenases.Testing the hypothesisA strong prediction of the hypothesis is that knockdown of ATP-dependent and actin-dependent helicases will result in enhanced bisulfite sensitivity and hypermethylation at non-B structures in multiple fragile sites coupled with global hypomethylation.Implications of the hypothesisA key implication of the hypothesis is that helicases, like the lymphoid-specific helicase and alpha thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked helicase, passively promote accurate maintenance of DNA methylation by preventing the sequestration of DNMTs at sites of unrepaired non-B DNA structure. When helicase action is blocked due to mutation or downregulation of the respective genes, DNMTs stall at unrepaired non-B structures in fragile sites after methylating them and are unable to methylate other sites in the genome, resulting in hypermethylation at non-B DNA-forming sites, along with hypomethylation elsewhere.