Profiling of Chromatin States in a Human Cancer Cell Line. Homo sapiens

DNA methylation mediated by the combined action of three DNA methyltransferases, DNMT1, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B, is essential for mammalian development and is also a major contributor to transformation. To elucidate how DNA methylation is targeted, we map the genome-wide localization of all DNMTs and methylation, and examine relationships between these markers and histone modifications and nucleosome structure. Our findings reveal a strong link between DNA methylation/DNMTs and transcribed loci and that these marks exhibit both overlapping and unique localization patterns. Comparisons with the epigenome of embryonic stem cells demonstrate that DNMT binding is associated with transformation-associated changes in methylation. Taken together, this study sheds important new light on determinants of DNA methylation and how it may become disrupted in cancer cells. Overall design: Examination of different marks in undifferentiated and differentiatial NCCIT cells