Methylation-Demethylation Dynamics: Implications of Changes in Acute Kidney Injury

Figure 1

De novo DNA methylation and maintenance. Methylation of unmethylated DNA (shown as white circles) occurs when a methyl group is transferred to the cytosine residue in the DNA, mainly in the CpG dinucleotide. The de novo methyltransferases (DNMT3a and DNMT3b) catalyse this process thereby generating 5-methylcytosine (shown as black circles), and upon DNA replication, the DNMT1 acts on the hemimethylated DNA to maintain the fidelity of inherited methylation patterns.