Mechanisms of bacterial and eukaryotic DNA methlation

Postreplicative methylation of cytosine residues in DNA plays important physiological roles in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Our goal is to understand how these unique enzymes work. Using methods of mutagenesis, fluorescence spectroscopy, chemical foot printing and kinetic analysis we study the mechanisms of DNA methylation by the bacterial, methyltransferanse HhaI and murine enzymes Dnmt1, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b.