119th General Meeting of the KCS

Type Poster Presentation
Area 생명화학
Room No. 포스터발표장
Time 4월 21일 (금요일) 13:00~14:30
Code BIO.P-273
Subject Replication and Transcription of Methylated DNA Studied with Atomic Force Microscopy
Authors 이지윤, 박준원*
POSTECH 화학과, Korea
Abstract DNA methylation is one of the epigenetic mechanism that controls the function of genes without changing the genetic code. It is known that methylated DNA performs not only important genetic roles in normal cells, but also tumor cells. In cancer tissues, DNA methylation has been observed differently from normal cells, and the degree of DNA methylation in cancer tissues are thought to be epigenetic rather than genetic causes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) have the capability of measuring intermolecular forces at the pico-Newton level while scanning surfaces at the nanometer resolution. AFM force spectroscopy has been used to observe molecular interaction and dynamics at the single-molecule level. Here, we show a study method of methylated DNA using AFM. In our approach, a DNA polymerase (DNAP) or RNA polymerase (RNAP) was immobilized on an AFM tip. The DNAP was allowed to capture a duplex of primer/template DNA and the RNAP was allowed to capture a initiator site of template DNA. Specific rupture events arising from the binding of complementary bases to the DNA/DNAP and DNA/RNAP complex were observed on the nucleotide-immobilized glass slide. Through this study, we propose to identify differences in DNA methylation during DNA replication and transcription process using polymerase and investigate the degree of binding between the target DNA and its complementary base at the reactive site of the polymerase during the polymerization. It is expected that the current method would enable the DNA methylation to be studied at the single cell level.
E-mail lizzy@postech.ac.kr