Housing and p53 status differentially modulate transcripts for DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) and methyl-binding protein (Mecp2) in mammary glands of 14 week old wild type and p53+/- females. A) Both GH and IH p53+/- mice had lower levels of DNMT1 mRNA, and there was a trend towards an effect of isolation in WT animals, B) loss of a p53+/- allele led to reduced DNMT3a mRNA, C) both isolation and loss of a p53+/- allele diminished expression of DNMT3b mRNA, and D) both isolation and loss of a p53+/- allele diminished expression of MeCP2. WT GH n = 5, WT IH n =5, and p53+/- GH n = 10, and p53+/- IH n = 10.WT = wild type, and p53+/- = p53 heterozygote, GH = group-housed, IH = individually-housed. Different uppercase letters denote overall statistical differences in housing or genotype (p≤0.05). Different lowercase letters denote statistical differences found in post-hoc comparisons between experimental groups (p≤0.05). Bars show means ± SEM.