tRNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the TRDMT1gene.[5][6][7][8]
CpG methylation is an epigenetic modification that is important for embryonic development, imprinting, and X-chromosome inactivation. Studies in mice have demonstrated that DNA methylation is required for mammalian development. This gene encodes a protein with similarity to DNA methyltransferases, but this protein does not display methyltransferase activity. The protein strongly binds DNA, suggesting that it may mark specific sequences in the genome. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms.[8]
It has been shown that human DNMT2 does not methylate DNA but instead methylates cytosine 38 in the anticodon loop of aspartic acid transfer RNA (tRNA(Asp)).[9]
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^Goll MG, Kirpekar F, Maggert KA, Yoder JA, Hsieh CL, Zhang X, Golic KG, Jacobsen SE, Bestor TH (Jan 2006). "Methylation of tRNAAsp by the DNA methyltransferase homolog Dnmt2". Science. 311 (5759): 395–8. doi:10.1126/science.1120976. PMID16424344.
^Goll MG, Kirpekar F, Maggert KA, et al. (2006). "Methylation of tRNAAsp by the DNA methyltransferase homolog Dnmt2". Science. 311 (5759): 395–8. doi:10.1126/science.1120976. PMID16424344.
Van den Wyngaert I, Sprengel J, Kass SU, Luyten WH (1998). "Cloning and analysis of a novel human putative DNA methyltransferase". FEBS Lett. 426 (2): 283–9. doi:10.1016/S0014-5793(98)00362-7. PMID9599025.
Franchina M, Hooper J, Kay PH (2001). "Five novel alternatively spliced transcripts of DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferase 2 in human peripheral blood leukocytes". Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. 33 (11): 1104–15. doi:10.1016/S1357-2725(01)00074-7. PMID11551826.
Xiong Y, Dowdy SC, Xue A, et al. (2005). "Opposite alterations of DNA methyltransferase gene expression in endometrioid and serous endometrial cancers". Gynecol. Oncol. 96 (3): 601–9. doi:10.1016/j.ygyno.2004.11.047. PMID15721400.
Pang ST, Weng WH, Flores-Morales A, et al. (2006). "Cytogenetic and expression profiles associated with transformation to androgen-resistant prostate cancer". Prostate. 66 (2): 157–72. doi:10.1002/pros.20328. PMID16173030.