Communications Biology (May 2021)

DNA methylation changes during long-term in vitro cell culture are caused by epigenetic drift

  • Julia Franzen,
  • Theodoros Georgomanolis,
  • Anton Selich,
  • Chao-Chung Kuo,
  • Reinhard Stöger,
  • Lilija Brant,
  • Melita Sara Mulabdić,
  • Eduardo Fernandez-Rebollo,
  • Clara Grezella,
  • Alina Ostrowska,
  • Matthias Begemann,
  • Miloš Nikolić,
  • Björn Rath,
  • Anthony D. Ho,
  • Michael Rothe,
  • Axel Schambach,
  • Argyris Papantonis,
  • Wolfgang Wagner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02116-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Julia Franzen et al. investigate if changes in DNA methylation at specific genetic loci during cell culture expansion are due to a specific mechanism or gradual deregulation of an epigenetic state. Their results suggest that changes in CpG methylation are due to indirect epigenetic drift, rather than a consequence of targeting by DNA methyltransferases.