A polymerase chain reaction-based method for constructing a linear vector with site-specific DNA methylation

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that leads to a wide variety of biological functions, including transcription, growth and development, and diseases associated with altered gene expression such as cancers. However, tools to insert site-specific methylation into DNA for analyzing epigenetic functions are limited. Here we describe a novel polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based approach to provide site-specific DNA methylation at any site, including CpG or CpNpG islands. This method is simple and versatile, and it consists of four steps to construct the DNA methylation vector: (I) design and synthesis of methylated primers, (II) PCR amplification, (III) isolation of single-stranded DNA, and (IV) annealing and ligation of isolated single-stranded DNAs. First we produced and validated a linear green fluorescence protein (GFP) vector by this method. Next we applied this method to introduce methyl groups into the promoter of the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene and found that site-specific DNA methylation at the CRE element significantly altered COX-2 gene expression. These results demonstrate that this PCR-based approach is useful for the analysis of biological functions that depend on DNA methylation.