CG suppression is a term for the phenomenon that
CG dinucleotides are very uncommon in most portions of
vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
genomes.
In adult somatic tissues, cytosine residues may be
methylated
In the chemical sciences, methylation denotes the addition of a methyl group on a substrate, or the substitution of an atom (or group) by a methyl group. Methylation is a form of alkylation, with a methyl group replacing a hydrogen atom. These t ...
, and this occurs almost exclusively within a symmetric CpG context.
Methylated C residues spontaneously deaminate to form T residues; hence CpG dinucleotides steadily mutate to TpG dinucleotides, which gives rise to the under-representation of CpG dinucleotides in the human genome (they occur at only 21% of the expected frequency).
(On the other hand, spontaneous deamination of unmethylated C residues gives rise to U residues, a mutation that is quickly recognized and repaired by the cell).
In
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
and
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
, CGs are the least frequent
dinucleotide
Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecules with ...
, making up less than 1% of all dinucleotides. GCs are the second most infrequent, making up more than 4% of all dinucleotides, so CGs are more than fourfold less frequent than all other dinucleotides.
See also
*
CpG island
The CpG sites or CG sites are regions of DNA where a cytosine nucleotide is followed by a guanine nucleotide in the linear sequence of bases along its 5' → 3' direction. CpG sites occur with high frequency in genomic regions called CpG isl ...
References
{{reflist, 1
Genomics techniques