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Methylation status of CpG-rich islands on active and inactive mouse X chromosomes

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Abstract

Single copy probes derived from CpG-rich island clones fromEag I andNot I linking libraries and nine rare-cutter restriction endonucleases were used to investigate the methylation status of CpG-rich islands on the inactive and active X chromosomes (Chr) of the mouse. Thirteen of the 14 probes used detected CpG-rich islands in genomic DNA. The majority of island CpGs detected by rare-cutter restriction endonucleases were methylated on the inactive X Chr and unmethylated on the active X Chr, but some heterogeneity within the cell population used to make genomic DNA was detected. The CpG-rich islands detected by two putative pseudoautosomal probes remained unmethylated on both the active and inactive X Chrs. Otherwise, distance from the X Chr inactivation center did not affect the methylation profile of CpG-rich islands. We conclude that methylation of CpG-rich islands is a general feature of X Chr inactivation.

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Norris, D.P., Brockdorff, N. & Rastan, S. Methylation status of CpG-rich islands on active and inactive mouse X chromosomes. Mammalian Genome 1, 78–83 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02443782

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