TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of DNA methylation in invertebrates
T2 - Developmental regulation or genome defense?
AU - Regev, Aviv
AU - Lamb, Marion J.
AU - Jablonka, Eva
PY - 1998/7
Y1 - 1998/7
N2 - Cytosine methylation is widely distributed in multicellular organisms. We present a comprehensive survey of the existing data on the phylogenetic distribution of DNA methylation in invertebrates, together with new data for the crustacean Penaeus semisulcatus, the annelid Aporrectodea caliginosa trapezoides, and the parasitic platyhelminth Schistosoma mansoni. Two alternative hypotheses addressing the function of cytosine methylation in invertebrates are evaluated: (1) cytosine methylation is an ancient regulatory mechanism which was lost in species with low rates of cell turnover, and (2) cytosine methylation is primarily a defense mechanism against genomic parasites and is expected to be present in all species with large genomes. We discuss the role of DNA methylation in the evolution of development in light of these hypotheses and conclude that gene control and cell memory are important and primitive functions of DNA methylation.
AB - Cytosine methylation is widely distributed in multicellular organisms. We present a comprehensive survey of the existing data on the phylogenetic distribution of DNA methylation in invertebrates, together with new data for the crustacean Penaeus semisulcatus, the annelid Aporrectodea caliginosa trapezoides, and the parasitic platyhelminth Schistosoma mansoni. Two alternative hypotheses addressing the function of cytosine methylation in invertebrates are evaluated: (1) cytosine methylation is an ancient regulatory mechanism which was lost in species with low rates of cell turnover, and (2) cytosine methylation is primarily a defense mechanism against genomic parasites and is expected to be present in all species with large genomes. We discuss the role of DNA methylation in the evolution of development in light of these hypotheses and conclude that gene control and cell memory are important and primitive functions of DNA methylation.
KW - Cell memory
KW - DNA methylation
KW - Epigenetic inheritance
KW - Evolution of development
KW - Genome size
KW - Invertebrates
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0031877999&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025992
DO - 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025992
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AN - SCOPUS:0031877999
VL - 15
SP - 880
EP - 891
JO - Molecular Biology and Evolution
JF - Molecular Biology and Evolution
SN - 0737-4038
IS - 7
ER -