Is methylation done to Eukaryotic DNA?

[Monkeymaniac]

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Is methylation done to eukaryotic DNA, like how it is done to Bacteria?

Also do eukaryotes express restriction enzymes? Thanks in advance!

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Yes, methylation occurs in eukaryotic DNA. It's very important.

Eukaryotes do have restriction enzymes, but they're just called endonucleases (they're the class of enzymes that restriction enzymes fall under).

 

[Tesseract]

The process of methylation is a form of transcription control in eukaryotes. Methyltransferases attach "methyl" groups to Cytosine-phosphate-Guanine sites in DNA. A large number of these methylated CpG sites, called a CpG island, in gene's promoter region can inhibit its transcription. Some cancers "use" methylation to knock out tumor suppressor genes. Epigenetics can be complex area of study once you collect all of the possibilities.

Histone proteins can also be affected by methylation. Methylation and acetylation generally "closes" and "opens," respectively, DNA to proteins.

Bacteria, in comparison, use methylation to differentiate host DNA from foreign DNA. A number of restriction enzymes target non-methylated DNA and prevent viral infection in some bacteria.

Hope this info. helps you.