Small RNA guides for de novo DNA methylation in mammalian germ cells

  1. Alexei A. Aravin1 and
  2. Déborah Bourc’his2,3
  1. 1 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA;
  2. 2 Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U741/Paris 7 University, 75251 Paris Cedex 05, France

Abstract

Germline genomic methylation is essential for gamete identity and integrity in mammals. The study by Kuramochi-Miyagawa and colleagues (908–917) in the previous issue of Genes & Development links the process of DNA methylation-dependent repression of retrotranspons with the presence of piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) in fetal male germ cells undergoing de novo methylation.

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