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Science 27 October 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5799, pp. 645 - 647
DOI: 10.1126/science.1135213
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Reports

Functional CpG Methylation System in a Social Insect

Ying Wang,1 Mireia Jorda,2 Peter L. Jones,1 Ryszard Maleszka,3 Xu Ling,4 Hugh M. Robertson,5,6,7 Craig A. Mizzen,1,6 Miguel A. Peinado,2 Gene E. Robinson5,6,7*

DNA methylation systems are well characterized in vertebrates, but methylation in Drosophila melanogaster and other invertebrates remains controversial. Using the recently sequenced honey bee genome, we present a bioinformatic, molecular, and biochemical characterization of a functional DNA methylation system in an insect. We report on catalytically active orthologs of the vertebrate DNA methyltransferases Dnmt1 and Dnmt3a and b, two isoforms that contain a methyl-DNA binding domain, genomic 5-methyl-deoxycytosine, and CpG-methylated genes. The honey bee provides an opportunity to study the roles of methylation in social contexts.

1 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
2 IDIBELL–Cancer Research Institute, L'Hospitalet 08907, Catalonia, Spain.
3 Visual Sciences and Australian Research Council Centre for Molecular Genetics of Development, Research School of Biological Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
4 Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
5 Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
6 Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
7 Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: generobi{at}life.uiuc.edu

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