Evolution of epigenetics explored for the first time

Medicine & Science Christoph Bock's team at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of MedUni Vienna established a catalog of DNA methylation across 580 animal species. These data ena-bled a detailed dissection of the evolution of epigenetic regulation and the epigenome. The new study, published in Nature Communications, shows that the characteristic DNA methylation signatures of animal genomes are evolutionarily very old, having emerged long before the first mammals. Surprisingly, DNA methylation in starfish and sharks follows a very similar -code- as in orangutans or humans. This epige-netic code may even help protect against cancer - as indicated by DNA methylation patterns in birds, which rarely develop cancer. Our genes are encoded in the DNA sequence of the genome, which is highly similar across the diverse cell types of our body. Yet, each cell can only access those genes that are in an epigenetically permissive state.