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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Dec 2.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Res. 2014 Oct 6;1628(0 0):50–59. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.09.069

Figure 1. Schematic representation of DNA methylation.

Figure 1

DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) add methyl groups (CH3) to the C5 position of cytosine in the genome. Histone methyltransferases (HMT) add CH3 to the N-terminal tails of histones. Methylation of cytosines in CpG islands inhibits transcription factor binding to DNA sequences through the recruitment of co-repressor complexes. Methyl-binding domain-containing proteins such as methyl CpGbinding protein 2 (MeCP2) bind methylated DNA regions and recruit co-repressors such as histone deacetylases (HDACs), histone mehtyltransferases (HMT), and DNMTs.