Title: The Epigenome: Molecular Hide and Seek. Stephan Beck and Alexander Olek, editors. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH GmbH Co. KGaA, 2003, 188 pp., $35.00, softcover. ISBN 3-527-30494-0.
Abstract: The Epigenome , edited by Beck and Olek with contributions from leading experts in DNA methylation, provides an excellent introduction to the unrealized potential of the fifth base in DNA—5-methyl-cytosine—for understanding and diagnosis of human disease. The mapping of the human genome generated unprecedented excitement and anticipation that understanding of the molecular basis of disease will be revolutionized and that a new world of diagnostic predictors of human disease will be unraveled. However, many are unaware of the fact that the published map of the human genome lacks the pattern of distribution of the fifth base.
The fifth base of DNA is generated after the genetic information is replicated. Methyl groups are added to the fifth position on cytosines residing at the dinucleotide sequence CpG by an enzymatic process after DNA replication. What makes the fifth base unique is that it is distributed in specific patterns …