Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images

For several decades, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has been thought to be the only DNA modification with a functional significance in metazoans. The discovery of enzymatic oxidation of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) as well as detection of N6-met...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ramsawhook, Ashley, Lewis, Lara C., Eleftheriou, Maria, Abakir, Abdulkadir, Durczak, Paulina M., Markus, Robert, Rajini, Seema, Hannan, Nicholas R.F., Coyle, Beth, Ruzov, Alexey
Format: Article
Published: Journal of Visualized Experiments 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42816/
_version_ 1848796575107645440
author Ramsawhook, Ashley
Lewis, Lara C.
Eleftheriou, Maria
Abakir, Abdulkadir
Durczak, Paulina M.
Markus, Robert
Rajini, Seema
Hannan, Nicholas R.F.
Coyle, Beth
Ruzov, Alexey
author_facet Ramsawhook, Ashley
Lewis, Lara C.
Eleftheriou, Maria
Abakir, Abdulkadir
Durczak, Paulina M.
Markus, Robert
Rajini, Seema
Hannan, Nicholas R.F.
Coyle, Beth
Ruzov, Alexey
author_sort Ramsawhook, Ashley
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description For several decades, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has been thought to be the only DNA modification with a functional significance in metazoans. The discovery of enzymatic oxidation of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) as well as detection of N6-methyladenine (6mA) in the DNA of multicellular organisms provided additional degrees of complexity to the epigenetic research. According to a growing body of experimental evidence, these novel DNA modifications may play specific roles in different cellular and developmental processes. Importantly, as some of these marks (e. g. 5hmC, 5fC and 5caC) exhibit tissue- and developmental stage-specific occurrence in vertebrates, immunochemistry represents an important tool allowing assessment of spatial distribution of DNA modifications in different biological contexts. Here the methods for computational analysis of DNA modifications visualized by immunostaining followed by confocal microscopy are described. Specifically, the generation of 2.5 dimension (2.5D) signal intensity plots, signal intensity profiles, quantification of staining intensity in multiple cells and determination of signal colocalization coefficients are shown. Collectively, these techniques may be operational in evaluating the levels and localization of these DNA modifications in the nucleus, contributing to elucidating their biological roles in metazoans.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:50:09Z
format Article
id nottingham-42816
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:50:09Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Journal of Visualized Experiments
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-428162020-05-04T18:54:48Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42816/ Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images Ramsawhook, Ashley Lewis, Lara C. Eleftheriou, Maria Abakir, Abdulkadir Durczak, Paulina M. Markus, Robert Rajini, Seema Hannan, Nicholas R.F. Coyle, Beth Ruzov, Alexey For several decades, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has been thought to be the only DNA modification with a functional significance in metazoans. The discovery of enzymatic oxidation of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) as well as detection of N6-methyladenine (6mA) in the DNA of multicellular organisms provided additional degrees of complexity to the epigenetic research. According to a growing body of experimental evidence, these novel DNA modifications may play specific roles in different cellular and developmental processes. Importantly, as some of these marks (e. g. 5hmC, 5fC and 5caC) exhibit tissue- and developmental stage-specific occurrence in vertebrates, immunochemistry represents an important tool allowing assessment of spatial distribution of DNA modifications in different biological contexts. Here the methods for computational analysis of DNA modifications visualized by immunostaining followed by confocal microscopy are described. Specifically, the generation of 2.5 dimension (2.5D) signal intensity plots, signal intensity profiles, quantification of staining intensity in multiple cells and determination of signal colocalization coefficients are shown. Collectively, these techniques may be operational in evaluating the levels and localization of these DNA modifications in the nucleus, contributing to elucidating their biological roles in metazoans. Journal of Visualized Experiments 2017-07-09 Article PeerReviewed Ramsawhook, Ashley, Lewis, Lara C., Eleftheriou, Maria, Abakir, Abdulkadir, Durczak, Paulina M., Markus, Robert, Rajini, Seema, Hannan, Nicholas R.F., Coyle, Beth and Ruzov, Alexey (2017) Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images. Journal of Visualized Experiments (127). e56318/1-e56318/7. ISSN 1940-087X Epigenetics DNA oxi-mCs N6-methyladenine Immunohistochemistry Zen Confocal Microscopy Signal Quantitation Spatial Distribution https://www.jove.com/video/56318/immunostaining-for-dna-modifications-computational-analysis-confocal doi:10.3791/56318 doi:10.3791/56318
spellingShingle Epigenetics
DNA
oxi-mCs
N6-methyladenine
Immunohistochemistry
Zen
Confocal Microscopy
Signal Quantitation
Spatial Distribution
Ramsawhook, Ashley
Lewis, Lara C.
Eleftheriou, Maria
Abakir, Abdulkadir
Durczak, Paulina M.
Markus, Robert
Rajini, Seema
Hannan, Nicholas R.F.
Coyle, Beth
Ruzov, Alexey
Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
title Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
title_full Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
title_fullStr Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
title_full_unstemmed Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
title_short Immunostaining for DNA modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
title_sort immunostaining for dna modifications: computational analysis of confocal images
topic Epigenetics
DNA
oxi-mCs
N6-methyladenine
Immunohistochemistry
Zen
Confocal Microscopy
Signal Quantitation
Spatial Distribution
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42816/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42816/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42816/