Proteins involved in DNA methylation and DNA demethylation are useful for epigenetic research applications such as enzyme kinetics, selectivity profiling, screening inhibitors, antibody production and protein arrays. DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) are the major players that methylate DNA and are involved in various biological processes from embryonic development to tumorigenesis.
DNA methylation proteins, such as DNA methyltransferases DNMT1, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B, are useful for the study of enzyme kinetics, screening inhibitors, and selectivity profiling related to DNA methylation. DNA methylation is defined as the addition of a methyl group to the 5-carbon position of cytosine. It is implicated in numerous biological processes and if not regulated properly, can result in the development of diseases, especially cancer.
DNA demethylation proteins such as TDG and TET1 (ten-eleven translocation gene protein 1) are useful for a range of applications in DNA demethylation studies such as enzyme kinetics, screening inhibitors, selectivity profiling, ELISA, and protein arrays. DNA demethylation can be passive, active, or both and is defined as the removal of a methyl group from DNA. It is involved in epigenetic reprogramming of genes as well as important disease mechanisms, including tumor progression.