The epigenetic down-regulation of genes is emerging as a possible underlying mec

Question

The epigenetic down-regulation of genes is emerging as a possible underlying mechanism of the GABAergic neuron dysfunction in schizophrenia. For example, evidence has been presented to show that the promoters associated with reelin and GAD67 genes are down- regulated as a consequence of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)-mediated hypermethylation. Reelin is up-regulated by the binding of the T-box transcription factor -1 (Tbr-1) binding to its promoter region. GAD67 can be up-regulated by SDF1?, a transcription factor, binding to GAD67

Explanation / Answer

During the post mortem of schizophrenic patients brain it has been observed that the two genes Reelin and GAD67 are hypermethylated and shows reduced expression or their genes are down regulated

Promoter regions of Reelin and GAD67 are embedded in large CpG islands, which are inturn hypermethylated and this causes down regulation of these genes.

An experiment can be designed wherein using anti sense technology, the expression of DNA methyl transferase(DNMT) is blocked first. This ultimately prevents the methionine induced hypermethylation of Reelin and GAD67 genes and hence prevents the down regulation of these two genes.

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