Insight into the impact of methylation and demethylation pathways in DNA physical properties
Autor: Eric Matamoros Morales
Centre: INST.RAMON BERENGUER IV-AMP.
Document:
Methylated DNA has recently been a novel object of study for its implications in biological pathways through the regulation of the gene expression. Otherwise, its acting method and characteristics still remain unknown. In this study we unveil the physical properties of DNA during methylation and demethylation pathways to obtain a proper idea on how these modifications affect DNA stability, which is related with cancer. We observe that cytosine methylation heavily decreases DNA flexibility in both circularization assay and Monte-Carlo based simulations, and that both methylated and hydroxymethilated DNA have got an increased chance of getting pieces with high bending. Overall, we have shown that both methylation and demethylation have got direct implications in DNA flexibility and, as a result, in the epigenetic regulatory system, which could lead to a better cancer understanding.