Methyltransferase‐Directed Derivatization of 5‐Hydroxymethylcytosine in DNA

Abstract

Sequence-specific derivatization: Enzymatic methylation of cytosine in DNA is part of an epigenetic regulatory network in vertebrates. In the absence of the methylation cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine, bacterial cytosine-5 methyltransferases can catalyze the condensation of aliphatic thiols and selenols with 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, a recently discovered nucleobase in mammalian DNA, to yield 5-chalcogenomethyl derivatives (see scheme). Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.