Encyclopaedia of eukaryotic DNA methylation: from to mechanisms and functions

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification with a very long evolutionary history. However, DNA methylation evolves surprisingly rapidly across eukaryotes. The genomewide distribution of methylation diversifies rapidly in different lineages, and DNA methylation is lost altogether surprisingly frequently. The growing availability of genomic and epigenomic sequencing across organisms highlights this diversity but also illuminates potential factors that could explain why both the DNA methylation machinery and its genome-wide distribution evolve so rapidly. Key to this are new discoveries about the fitness costs associated with DNA methylation, and new theories about how the fundamental biochemical mechanisms of DNA methylation introduction and maintenance could explain how new genome-wide patterns of methylation evolve.

Automated summary

DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that has undergone long-term evolutionary changes. However, it evolves surprisingly rapidly in eukaryotes. The genomic distribution of methylation diversifies quickly in different lineages, and DNA methylation is frequently lost altogether. Recent studies using genomic and epigenomic sequencing have shed light on the reasons behind the rapid evolution of both the DNA methylation machinery and its genome-wide distribution. New discoveries about the fitness costs associated with DNA methylation, as well as new theories about the biochemical mechanisms that introduce and maintain DNA methylation, have helped explain how new patterns of methylation emerge.