6mA is a rare beast - in most animals at least. But not in all eukaryotes

There’s always been uncertainty around N6-methyladenine (6mA): Is it real in eukaryotes? And if so, what does it actually do? A recent and pretty exciting study from the Mendoza lab finally gives us some answers. It shows that adenine DNA methylation — and the enzyme that writes this modification — can be traced all the way back to the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). Even more interesting, the study finds that 6mA appears to support or enhance transcription in eukaryotes, rather than acting as a repressive mark in organisms that use this modification.

Still, I suspect we’re just seeing the beginning. There’s definitely more to uncover about this curious base modification in animals...

anyway, here is the full title of the paper

Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes