Developmentally dynamic changes of DNA methylation in the mouse Snurf/Snrpn gene

The mouse Snurf/Snrpn gene has two differentially methylated regions (DMRs), the maternally methylated region at the 5′ end (DMR1) and the paternally methylated region at the 3′ end (DMR2). DMR1, a region that includes the Snrpn promoter and the entire intron 1, has been thought to be a germline DMR, which inherits the parental-specific methylation profile from the gametes. DMR1 is not only associated with imprinted Snrpn expression, but implicated in imprinting control of other genes in the region. We have now characterized the highly conserved activator sequence (CAS) in the Snrpn intron 1 among human and rodents and demonstrate that the mouse CAS is not a germline DMR but shows developmentally dynamic changes of DNA methylation and has methylation-sensitive enhancer activity. The tissue-specific methylation of the mouse CAS and its methylation-sensitive enhancer activity may control tissue-specific expression of IC transcripts, resulting in the establishment and/or maintenance of imprinting in the Snrpn locus.