Imperial College London
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DrMarcoDi Antonio

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry

Senior Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5866m.di-antonio

 
 
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Location

 

207LMolecular Sciences Research HubWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Rauchhaus:2022,
author = {Rauchhaus, J and Robinson, J and Monti, L and Di, Antonio M},
journal = {Genes},
pages = {1--11},
title = {G-quadruplexes mark sites of methylation instability associated with ageing and cancer},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/9/1665},
volume = {13},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Regulation of the epigenome is critical for healthy cell function but can become disrupted with age, leading to aberrant epigenetic profiles including altered DNA methylation. Recent studies have indicated that DNA methylation homeostasis can be compromised by the formation of DNA secondary structures known as G-quadruplexes (G4s), which form in guanine-rich regions of the genome. G4s can be recognised and bound by certain methylation-regulating enzymes, and in turn perturb the surrounding methylation architecture. However, the effect G4 formation has on DNA 20methylation at critical epigenetic sites, remains elusive and poorly explored. In this work, we investigate the association between G4 sequences and prominent DNA methylation sites, termed ‘ageing clocks’, that act as bona fide dysregulated regions in aged and cancerous cells. Using a combination of in vitro (G4-seq) and in cellulo (BG4-ChIP) G4 distribution maps, we show that ageing clocks sites are significantly enriched with G4-forming sequences. The observed enrichment also varies across species and cell lines, being least significant in healthy cells and more pronounced in tumorigenic cells. Overall, our results suggest a biological significance of G4s in the realm of DNA methylation, which may be important for further deciphering the driving forces of diseases characterised by epigenetic abnormality, including ageing.
AU  - Rauchhaus,J
AU  - Robinson,J
AU  - Monti,L
AU  - Di,Antonio M
EP  - 11
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 2073-4425
SP  - 1
TI  - G-quadruplexes mark sites of methylation instability associated with ageing and cancer
T2  - Genes
UR  - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/9/1665
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/99724
VL  - 13
ER  -
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