Skirmantas Kriaucionis, Nathaniel Heintz.
Science, Science Express | DOI:10.1126/science.1169786 | PMID:
In spite of the importance of epigenetic regulation in neurological disorders, little is known about neuronal chromatin. Cerebellar Purkinje neurons have large and euchromatic nuclei, whilst granule cell nuclei are small and have a more typical heterochromatin distribution. While comparing the abundance of 5-methylcytosine (mC) in Purkinje and granule cell nuclei, we detected the presence of an unusual DNA nucleotide. Using thin layer chromatography (TLC), high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), and mass spectrometry (MS), we have identified the nucleotide as 5-hydroxymethyl-2’-deoxycytidine (hmdC). hmdC comprises 0.6% of total nucleotides in Purkinje cells, 0.2% in granule cells, and is not present in cancer cell lines. hmdC is a constituent of nuclear DNA that is enriched in the brain, suggesting a role in epigenetic control of neuronal function.メチル化Cだけでなくヒドロキシメチル化Cもエピジェネティカルな働きを持っているそうな。これは要チェックでしょう。