This is undoubtedly a big finding that will cause all sorts of controversy and reevaluation of theories of epigenetics. Not to mention that it's probably of interest to the sequencing community that there is a sixth base to worry about!
Skirmantas Kriaucionis of the Heintz lab at the Rockefeller University has just published a paper in Science which describes the discovery of yet another modified cytosine nucleotide, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, which seems particularly enriched in neuronal cells. A partner paper suggests one mechanism for the conversion from 5mC.
The structure of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine at PubChem.
Skirmantas Kriaucionis of the Heintz lab at the Rockefeller University has just published a paper in Science which describes the discovery of yet another modified cytosine nucleotide, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, which seems particularly enriched in neuronal cells. A partner paper suggests one mechanism for the conversion from 5mC.
The structure of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine at PubChem.
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