Non-CG Methylation and its Role in Development with Dr Ozren Bogdanovic

Our second guest from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, is DrOzren Bogdanovic. We are so privileged to talk today to Ozren about his work in developmental epigenetics which covers how DNA methylation participates in diverse developmental processes, and how deposition and removal of the methylation mark impacts upon embryonic and germline integrity.

We discuss his recent publication on non-CG methylation at satellite DNA repeats - something a little different this week! Widespread non-CG methylation occurs in mammalian embryonic stem cells and in the brain. In mammals, it is found at CAC trinucleotides in the nervous system, and is associated with transcriptional repression. It is found at CAG trinucleotides in embryonic stem cells, and CAC methylation is a known conserved feature of adult vertebrate brains. However, in his recent work, Ozren describes how, as opposed to any of these established methylation signatures, a novel form of non-CG methylation occurs in the TGCT context within zebrafish mosaic satellite repeats. TGCT methylation is inherited from both male and female gametes, and is critical for development. Ozren also discusses enzymes responsible for this observed novel methylation mark.

We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed talking to Ozren.

Ozren's recent publication we discuss can be found here.

If you want to find out more, contact Ozren on Twitter or via email.