Principal Investigator Rudolf Jaenisch
The importance of DNA methylation in vertebrate gene control has remained a controversial issue because of the indirect and correlative nature of many studies in the field. The targeted inactivation of the Dnmt1 and Dnmt3 genes results in embryonic lethality, establishing the essential role of DNA methylation in mammals. We are creating systems that allow the tissue specific and inducible inactivation of the methyl-transferases and methyl-binding proteins to assess the role of methylation in normal development and cancer.