DNA甲基化电化学分析

Electrochemical Analysis for DNA Methylation

DNA甲基化是目前研究最多的DNA表观遗传修饰之一。大量研究表明,DNA甲基化会引起DNA结构、稳定性以及DNA与蛋白质相互作用方式的改变,从而影响基因表达,进而引起多种神经退行性疾病、免疫系统疾病甚至癌症。因此,发展简易、灵敏、准确、可靠的方法进行DNA甲基化的分析是至关重要的。本文简单介绍了DNA甲基化的分析方法,重点综述了DNA甲基化的电化学分析方法,并对DNA甲基化的研究前景进行了展望。

DNA methylation, which refers to methyltransferases（ MTases）-catalyzed covalent addition of a methyl group to adenine or cytosine residues in the specific DNA sequence,is one of the hottest research areas on epigenetic modification of genomic DNA. According to numerous studies,DNA methylation may cause the change of DNA structure, stability and interaction mode bet ween DNA and protein, thus affecting gene expression, which may lead to many neurodegenerative diseases,immune system diseases and even cancer.Therefore, development of sensitive, selective, simple, and economical methods for DNA methylation determination is highly required. With increasing progress in the methylation studies,a series of detecting techniques has been developed to match various requirements of methylation studies. All of these study methods can be divided into four groups： genome- wide methylation extent analysis,gene-specific methylation analysis,methylation transferase activity analysis and ne wmethylated sites screening. Among these methods,electrochemical techniques have been widely used for DNA methylation determination and MTases activity. Here we briefly revie wthe detection of DNA methylation. Then more detail in the work on the electrochemical method are described,including direct electrochemical analysis methods,indirect electrochemical analysis methods,electrogenerated chemiluminescence methods and photoelectrochemical methods. In the end,the prospects of DNA methylation analysis are introduced.