Dnmt1 Antibody

Methylation of DNA at cytosine residues plays an important role in regulation of gene expression, genomic imprinting and is essential for mammalian development. Hypermethylation of CpG islands in tumor suppressor genes or hypomethylation of bulk genomic DNA may be linked with development of cancer. Three families of mammalian DNA methyltransferase genes have been identified which include Dnmt1, Dnmt2 and Dnmt3. Dnmt1 is constitutively expressed in proliferating cells and inactivation of this gene causes global demethylation of genomic DNA and embryonic lethality.