dCas9-DNMT3A DNA Methylation Nuclease

Architecture

Catalytically dead Cas9 fused to catalytic domain of human DNA methyltransferase 3A. Directly methylates CpG dinucleotides at target loci.

Characteristics

Targeted DNA methylation system for epigenetic silencing. Creates stable, heritable repression through CpG methylation. Particularly effective at CpG islands in gene promoters. Methylation can persist through cell divisions, enabling long-term gene silencing.

Literature References

1. Mali et al. (2013). CAS9 transcriptional activators for target specificity screening and paired nickases for cooperative genome engineering. Nat Biotechnol - Mali 2013 Cas9 Nickase
2. Stepper et al. (2017). Efficient targeted DNA methylation with chimeric dCas9-Dnmt3a-Dnmt3L methyltransferase. Nucleic Acids Res - Stepper 2017 DNMT3A