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Figure 4 | BMC Developmental Biology

Figure 4

From: Loss of spermatogonia and wide-spread DNA methylation defects in newborn male mice deficient in DNMT3L

Figure 4

RLGS analysis of Dnmt3L -deficient testis. Restriction landmark genomic scanning was used to investigate global methylation levels of Dnmt3L mutant testis. The following tissues were used for analysis: 10 dpp whole testes from Dnmt3L+/- and Dnmt3L-/- males, and sperm and liver from Dnmt3L+/+ adult males. A) Shown here are enlargements of autoradiographs obtained for these tissues. Arrowheads point to five pre-identified germ cell-specific spots present in adult sperm but absent in liver [42]. B) Densitometry analysis of the five germ cell-specific spots in Dnmt3L+/- and Dnmt3L-/- testes. Once the somatic-to-germ cell ratio of a 10 dpp testis is considered and the lower germ cell counts in Dnmt3L-/- testes are accounted for, the mean density values obtained for Dnmt3L+/- and Dnmt3L-/- 10 dpp testes are reflective of the proportion of germ cells present in these tissues, not of changes in methylation state. Potential changes in DNA methylation levels in Dnmt3L-/- testes fall under the limit of detection.

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