Programmierbare und hochaufgelöste In-vitro-Detektion von genomischem 5-Methylcytosin durch TALEs

Advances and Opportunities in Epigenetic Chemical Biology

The study of epigenetics has greatly benefited from the development and application of various chemical biology approaches. In this review, we highlight the key targets for modulation and recent methods developed to enact such modulation. We discuss various chemical biology techniques to study DNA methylation and the post-translational modification of histones as well as their effect on gene expression. Additionally, we address the wealth of protein synthesis approaches to yield histones and nucleosomes bearing epigenetic modifications. Throughout, we highlight targets that present opportunities for the chemical biology community, as well as exciting new approaches that will provide additional insight into the roles of epigenetic marks.

Designer Receptors for Nucleotide-Resolution Analysis of Genomic 5-Methylcytosine by Cellular Imaging

We report programmable receptors for the imaging‐based analysis of 5‐methylcytosine (5mC) in user‐defined DNA sequences of single cells. Using fluorescent transcription‐activator‐like effectors (TALEs) that can recognize sequences of canonical and epigenetic nucleobases through selective repeats, we imaged cellular SATIII DNA, the origin of nuclear stress bodies (nSB). We achieve high nucleobase selectivity of natural repeats in imaging and demonstrate universal nucleobase binding by an engineered repeat. We use TALE pairs differing in only one such repeat in co‐stains to detect 5mC in SATIII sequences with nucleotide resolution independently of differences in target accessibility. Further, we directly correlate the presence of heat shock factor 1 with 5mC at its recognition sequence, revealing a potential function of 5mC in its recruitment as initial step of nSB formation. This opens a new avenue for studying 5mC functions in chromatin regulation in situ with nucleotide, locus, and cell resolution.

6-Substituted 2-Aminopurine-2'-deoxyribonucleoside 5'-Triphosphates that Trace Cytosine Methylation

Gene expression is extensively regulated by the occurrence and distribution of the epigenetic marker 2′‐deoxy 5‐methylcytosine (5mC) in genomic DNA. Because of its effects on tumorigenesis there is an important link to human health. In addition, detection of 5mC can serve as an outstanding biomarker for diagnostics as well as for disease therapy. Our previous studies have already shown that, by processing O⁶‐alkylated 2′‐deoxyguanosine triphosphate (dGTP) analogues, DNA polymerases are able to sense the presence of a single 5mC unit in a template. Here we present the synthesis and evaluation of an extended toolbox of 6‐substituted 2‐aminopurine‐2′‐deoxyribonucleoside 5′‐triphosphates modified at position 6 with various functionalities. We found that sensing of 5‐methylation by this class of nucleotides is more general, not being restricted to O⁶‐alkyl modification of dGTP but also applying to other functionalities.

Achieving single-nucleotide resolution of 5-methylcytosine detection with TALEs

We report engineered transcription-activator-like effectors (TALEs) as the first DNA-binding molecules that detect 5-methylcytosine (mC) at single-nucleotide resolution with fully programmable sequence selectivity. This is achieved by a design strategy such that a single cytosine (C) in a DNA sequence is selectively interrogated for its mC-modification level by targeting with a discriminatory TALE repeat; other Cs are ignored by targeting with universal-binding TALE repeats.