5-Methyl-dCTP

5-Methyl-dCTP is a base modified deoxynucleotide. Methylation of the C-5 position of cytosines is a common and important epigenetic modification, with more than 4% of the cytosines present in the human genome reported to be methylated. This modification can be incorporated into DNA via the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with 5-methyl-dCTP instead of dCTP. The ability to synthesize a defined, fully 5-methyl-dCTP-substituted DNA by PCR will be a valuable resource for a variety of applications including testing restriction endonucleases for methyl sensitivity and determining the specificity of 5-methyl-dCTP-dependent endonucleases. In addition, electroporation of 5-methyl-dCTP into living cells can also be incorporated into genomic DNA, and heritably alter cytosine methylation patterns and gene expression. References: 1. Kumar S, Chinnusamy V, Mohapatra T. Epigenetics of Modified DNA Bases: 5-Methylcytosine and Beyond. Frontiers in Genetics, 2018, 9: 640. 2. Wong KK, McClelland M. PCR with 5-methyl-dCTP replacing dCTP. Nucleic Acids Research, 1991, 19(5): 1081-1085. 3. Lao VV, Herring JL, Kim CH, Darwanto A, Soto U, Sowers LC. Incorporation of 5-chlorocytosine into mammalian DNA results in heritable gene silencing and altered cytosine methylation patterns. Carcinogenesis, 2009, 30(5): 886-893.