Tet-mediated epigenetic modulation in development and diseases
Cytosine methylation serves as a critical epigenetic mark by modifying DNA-protein interactions that influence transcriptional states and cellular identity. 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has generally been viewed as a stable covalent modification to DNA; however, the fact that 5-mC can be enzymatically modified to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) by Tet family proteins through Fe(II) a-KG-dependent hydroxylation gives a new perspective on the previously observed plasticity in 5mC-dependent regulatory processes.
Over the past several years, we have explored the roles of Tet-mediated epigenetic modulation in gene regulation, genomic stability, and tumorigenesis; and identified multiple proteins that could interact with Tet proteins, including RNA-binding protein Lin28 and Foxo3a