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Uptake of Foreign DNA by Mammalian Cells Via the Gastrointestinal Tract in Mice: Methylation of Foreign DNA—A Cellular Defense Mechanism

  • Chapter
Gene Silencing in Higher Plants and Related Phenomena in Other Eukaryotes

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 197))

Abstract

Many reviews have been published on eukaryotic DNA methylation, but in spite of intensive work for more than two decades, many of the biological implications of this genetic signal, by some termed an “epigenetic signal”, still remain to be elucidated. The nucleotide 5-methyldeoxycytidine (5-mC) has been recognized as a modulator of DNA motif-protein interactions and hence has the potential to affect many reactions of the DNA molecule. For my own motivation to continue research in this fascinating yet complex field of investigations, the finding has been decisively stimulating that in distinct, randomly selected segments of the human genome patterns of DNA methylation are identical at the nucleotide level or in larger regions among different individuals of diverse ethnic backgrounds (Kochanek et al. 1990, 1993; Behn-Krappa et al. 1991). Therefore, it is highly unlikely that patterns of DNA methylation in established mammalian genomes are the result of a randomly acting DNA methyltransferase system. The available evidence indicates that patterns of DNA methylation are species-, cell type- and DNA segment-specific and vary with stage of development. We do not yet know how these patterns arise, whether they can fluctuate, or what their functional significance may be. Most researchers in the field agree that motif-specific methylation serves an important function in the long-term silencing of eukaryotic promoters (Doerfler 1983).

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  1. Institut für Genetik, Universität zu Köln, Weyertal 121, 50931, Köln, Germany

    W. Doerfler

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  1. W. Doerfler
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  1. Max-Delbrück-Laboratorium in der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, 50829, Köln, Germany

    Peter Meyer

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Doerfler, W. (1995). Uptake of Foreign DNA by Mammalian Cells Via the Gastrointestinal Tract in Mice: Methylation of Foreign DNA—A Cellular Defense Mechanism. In: Meyer, P. (eds) Gene Silencing in Higher Plants and Related Phenomena in Other Eukaryotes. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 197. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79145-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79145-1_14

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