Emerging impacts of biological methylation on genetic information

Abstract

The central dogma of molecular biology explains the fundamental flow of genetic information for life. Although genome sequence (DNA) itself is a static chemical signature, it includes multiple layers of information composed of mRNA, tRNA, rRNA and small RNAs, all of which are involved in protein synthesis and is passing from parents to offspring via DNA. Methylation is a biologically important modification, because DNA, RNAs and proteins, components of the central dogma, are methylated by a set of methyltransferases. Recent works focused on understanding a variety of biological methylation have shed light on new regulation of cellular functions. In this review, we briefly discuss some of those recent findings of methylation, including DNA, RNAs and proteins.