The bacterial epigenome
In all domains of life, genomes contain epigenetic information superimposed over the nucleotide sequence. Epigenetic signals control DNA-protein interactions and can cause phenotypic change in the absence of mutation. A nearly universal mechanism of epigenetic signalling is DNA methylation. In bacte...
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Published in | Nature reviews. Microbiology Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 7 - 20 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Nature Publishing Group
01.01.2020
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | In all domains of life, genomes contain epigenetic information superimposed over the nucleotide sequence. Epigenetic signals control DNA-protein interactions and can cause phenotypic change in the absence of mutation. A nearly universal mechanism of epigenetic signalling is DNA methylation. In bacteria, DNA methylation has roles in genome defence, chromosome replication and segregation, nucleoid organization, cell cycle control, DNA repair and regulation of transcription. In many bacterial species, DNA methylation controls reversible switching (phase variation) of gene expression, a phenomenon that generates phenotypic cell variants. The formation of epigenetic lineages enables the adaptation of bacterial populations to harsh or changing environments and modulates the interaction of pathogens with their eukaryotic hosts. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 |
ISSN: | 1740-1526 1740-1534 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41579-019-0286-2 |