Exploring Transcriptional Silencing of Transposons in Zebrafish
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Date
2010
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Abstract
DNA methylation plays a critical role as an epigenetic
modifier in plants and mammals, however it is absent from many
invertebrate
genomes. Although DNA methylation is known to be present in zebrafish,
there is limited research on its function. In plants and mammals, one
critical function of DNA methylation is the repression of transposable
elements, parasitic elements that can be detrimental to the host
genome. While it is known that transposons are present in the
zebrafish genome, it is unknown whether their expression is dependent
on methylation.
I examined expression of two transposons, dirs and bhikhari, in wild
type embryos and in embryos with hypomethylated genomes.
Preliminary data show the unexpected result that expression of some
transposons is not regulated by DNA methylation in the zebrafish
larva.
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Keywords
Transposons, Methylation, Zebrafish