DNA methylation: a historical perspective.

In 1925, 5-methylcytosine was first reported in bacteria. However, its biological importance was not intuitive for several decades. After this initial lag, the ubiquitous presence of this methylated base emerged across all domains of life and revealed a range of essential biological functions. Today, we are armed with the knowledge of the key factors that establish, maintain, and remove DNA methylation and have access to a staggering and rapidly growing number of base-resolution methylation maps. Despite this, several fundamental details about the precise role and interpretation of DNA methylation patterns remain under investigation. Here, we review the field of DNA methylation from its beginning to present day, with an emphasis on findings in mammalian systems, and point the reader to select experiments that form the foundation of this field.

Dynamic antagonism between key repressive pathways maintains the placental epigenome.

DNA and Histone 3 Lysine 27 methylation typically function as repressive modifications and operate within distinct genomic compartments. In mammals, the majority of the genome is kept in a DNA methylated state, whereas the Polycomb repressive complexes regulate the unmethylated CpG-rich promoters of developmental genes. In contrast to this general framework, the extra-embryonic lineages display non-canonical, globally intermediate DNA methylation levels, including disruption of local Polycomb domains. Here, to better understand this unusual landscape's molecular properties, we genetically and chemically perturbed major epigenetic pathways in mouse trophoblast stem cells. We find that the extra-embryonic epigenome reflects ongoing and dynamic de novo methyltransferase recruitment, which is continuously antagonized by Polycomb to maintain intermediate, locally disordered methylation. Despite its disorganized molecular appearance, our data point to a highly controlled equilibrium between counteracting repressors within extra-embryonic cells, one that can seemingly persist indefinitely without bistable features typically seen for embryonic forms of epigenetic regulation.

Dnmt1 has de novo activity targeted to transposable elements.

DNA methylation plays a critical role during development, particularly in repressing retrotransposons. The mammalian methylation landscape is dependent on the combined activities of the canonical maintenance enzyme Dnmt1 and the de novo Dnmts, 3a and 3b. Here, we demonstrate that Dnmt1 displays de novo methylation activity in vitro and in vivo with specific retrotransposon targeting. We used whole-genome bisulfite and long-read Nanopore sequencing in genetically engineered methylation-depleted mouse embryonic stem cells to provide an in-depth assessment and quantification of this activity. Utilizing additional knockout lines and molecular characterization, we show that the de novo methylation activity of Dnmt1 depends on Uhrf1, and its genomic recruitment overlaps with regions that enrich for Uhrf1, Trim28 and H3K9 trimethylation. Our data demonstrate that Dnmt1 can catalyze DNA methylation in both a de novo and maintenance context, especially at retrotransposons, where this mechanism may provide additional stability for long-term repression and epigenetic propagation throughout development.

TETs compete with DNMT3 activity in pluripotent cells at thousands of methylated somatic enhancers.

Mammalian cells stably maintain high levels of DNA methylation despite expressing both positive (DNMT3A/B) and negative (TET1-3) regulators. Here, we analyzed the independent and combined effects of these regulators on the DNA methylation landscape using a panel of knockout human embryonic stem cell (ESC) lines. The greatest impact on global methylation levels was observed in DNMT3-deficient cells, including reproducible focal demethylation at thousands of normally methylated loci. Demethylation depends on TET expression and occurs only when both DNMT3s are absent. Dynamic loci are enriched for hydroxymethylcytosine and overlap with subsets of putative somatic enhancers that are methylated in ESCs and can be activated upon differentiation. We observe similar dynamics in mouse ESCs that were less frequent in epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) and scarce in somatic tissues, suggesting a conserved pluripotency-linked mechanism. Taken together, our data reveal tightly regulated competition between DNMT3s and TETs at thousands of somatic regulatory sequences within pluripotent cells.