Abstract
Abstract Methylation of genomic DNA at the CS position of cytosine residues is the predominant form of DNA modification in plants and vertebrates. DNA methylation is a developmentally regulated process that acts in concert with other regulatory mechanisms to control gene expression. Evidence suggests that DNA methylation is involved in a diverse range of biological processes which include regulation of tissue specific gene expression, cell differentiation, genomic imprinting, X chromosome inactivation, regulation of chromatin structure, DNA replication, viral latency, carcinogenesis, and ageing. The importance of DNA methylation has been increasingly recognized as many recent studies have provided direct evidence for its role in cancer (1, 2). While numerous studies have focused on the role of DNA methylation in gene regulation, little is known about how DNA methylation itself is regulated during development. One major obstacle in studying the function of DNA methylation in eukaryotic organisms in the past had been the lack of a genetic model system. Recently, DNA methylation-deficient mutants have been successfully generated in several model organisms including mice, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Neurospora crassa (3-5).
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