PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase alters the subcellular localization of Tet family proteins.

  • Yuko Arioka,
  • Akira Watanabe,
  • Kuniaki Saito,
  • Yasuhiro Yamada

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045031
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 9
p. e45031

Abstract

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Activation-induced cytidine deminase (Aid), a unique enzyme that deaminates cytosine in DNA, shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. A recent study proposed a novel function of Aid in active DNA demethylation via deamination of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, which is converted from 5-methylcytosine by the Ten-eleven translocation (Tet) family of enzymes. In this study, we examined the effect of simultaneous expression of Aid and Tet family proteins on the subcellular localization of each protein. We found that overexpressed Aid is mainly localized in the cytoplasm, whereas Tet1 and Tet2 are localized in the nucleus, and Tet3 is localized in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus. However, nuclear Tet proteins were gradually translocated to the cytoplasm when co-expressed with Aid. We also show that Aid-mediated translocation of Tet proteins is associated with Aid shuttling. Here we propose a possible role for Aid as a regulator of the subcellular localization of Tet family proteins.