Table 4. Induction of paramutation by a fragment of the Kit mRNA sequence is increased after methylation but requires Dnmt2 expression.

Embryo genotype	Oligoribonucleotide	Injected embryos	Total births (litters)	White-tailed mice
Dnmt2 +/+	Kit 2123–2150	80	28 (7)	4
Dnmt2 +/+	Kit2123–2150met	80	38 (8)	13§
Dnmt2 −/−	Kit2123–2150met	100	45 (9)	0
Dnmt2 +/+	buffer	39	19 (4)	1
Dnmt2 +/+	miR-124	50	28 (3)	1
Dnmt2 +/+	miR-29b	40	21 (3)	1

Microinjection assays were performed comparatively on wild type fertilized eggs and eggs recovered after mating two Dnmt2 ^−/− parents. Controls received either buffer only. Sequence of the Kit oligoribonucleotide is shown in Table S2. MetKit2 is identical to Kit2123–2150 but with all 8 cytosines methylated.

^§ p<0.05 between the methylated and the non methylated RNAs.