Transient DNA demethylation in differentiating mouse myoblasts correlates with higher activity of 5-methyldeoxycytidine excision repair

It has been recently shown that in developing chicken embryonic nuclear extracts there is a 5-methyldeoxycytidine excision repair activity (Jost, J. P. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 90, 4684-4688). We show that in differentiating mouse myoblasts, a similar enzymatic reaction may be responsible for the genome-wide DNA demethylation (up to 50% of all CmCGG) occurring between the 3rd and 5th days of differentiation. Furthermore, in differentiating myoblasts, there is first a 50% transient decrease in DNA methyltransferase activity and a 90% drop in the rate of DNA synthesis, followed by an increase in 5-methyl-CpG endonuclease and 5-methyldeoxycytidine excision repair activities. As tested in vitro, the maximal activity of the 5-methyldeoxycytidine excision repair coincides with the maximal in vivo genome-wide DNA demethylation. We also find that 3-aminobenzamide, a potent inhibitor of ADP-ribosyltransferase, blocks the differentiation of myoblasts, the 5-methyldeoxycytidine excision repair activity, and the genome-wide demethylation.