PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Patrick T. Griffin
AU  - Chad E. Niederhuth
AU  - Robert J. Schmitz
TI  - A comparative analysis of 5-azacytidine and zebularine induced DNA demethylation
AID  - 10.1101/048884
DP  - 2016 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 048884
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/06/13/048884.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/06/13/048884.full
AB  - The non-methylable cytosine analogs, 5-azacytidine and zebularine, are widely used to inhibit DNA methyltransferase activity and reduce genomic DNA methylation. In this study, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing is used to construct maps of DNA methylation with single base pair resolution in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings treated with each demethylating agent. We find that both inhibitor treatments result in nearly indistinguishable patterns of genome-wide DNA methylation and that 5-azacytidine had a slightly greater demethylating effect across the genome at higher concentrations. Transcriptome analyses revealed a substantial number of up-regulated genes, with an overrepresentation of transposable element genes, in particular CACTA-like elements. This demonstrates that chemical demethylating agents have a disproportionately large effect on loci that are otherwise silenced by DNA methylation.