Nature Communications (Jul 2019)
Activation of neuronal genes via LINE-1 elements upon global DNA demethylation in human neural progenitors
Abstract
DNA methylation plays an important role in silencing transposable elements. Here the authors find that loss of DNMT1 and DNA methylation leads to transcriptional activation and chromatin remodelling of evolutionarily young—hominoid-specific —LINE-1 elements which then act as alternative promoters for neuronal genes.