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. 1985 Feb;82(4):1045–1049. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.4.1045

Ethylation of poly(dC-dG).poly(dC-dG) by ethyl methanesulfonate stimulates the activity of mammalian DNA methyltransferase in vitro.

I K Farrance, R Ivarie
PMCID: PMC397190  PMID: 3856245

Abstract

Ethylation of poly(dC-dG).poly(dC-dG) with ethyl methanesulfonate (EtMes), a known carcinogen, at increasing molar ratios of EtMes/C X G base pairs progressively stimulated the methyl-accepting ability of the DNA during in vitro methylation by partially purified rat DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase (EC 2.1.1.37). Maximum stimulation was 2-fold over mock-treated DNA when 2.7% of the guanines were modified at the N-7 position, the major site of ethylation by EtMes in DNA. If a CpG site "hemiethylated" at guanine N-7 mimics a hemimethylated CpG site, we calculate that the enzyme has a relative affinity for hemiethylated CpG 18-fold above unmodified CpG. If ethylation of a dioxyphosphate oxygen of the phosphodiester bond is responsible for stimulation, the relative affinity could be much higher, up to 370-fold.

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