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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jan 5.
Published in final edited form as: Adv Exp Med Biol. 2022;1389:111–136. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-11454-0_5

Fig. 5.2. De novo and maintenance methylation.

Fig. 5.2

The de novo methyltransferases Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, in complex with their accessory factors Dnmt3L, Dnmt3b3 or Dnmt3b6, methylate unmodified DNA and establish methylation patterns. The major Dnmt3 isoforms in early embryos, germ cells and somatic cells are shown. At each round of DNA replication, the maintenance methyltransferase Dnmt1, aided by its accessory factor Uhrf1, “copies” the methylation pattern from the parental strand onto the daughter strand. Open circles represent unmethylated CpG dinucleotides, and filled circles represent methylated CpG dinucleotides.