Dnmt1 is essential to maintain progenitors in the perinatal intestinal epithelium.. Mus musculus

We report that Dnmt1 is crucial during perinatal intestinal development. Loss of Dnmt1 in intervillus progenitor cells causes global hypomethylation, DNA damage, premature differentiation, and apoptosis, and consequently, loss of nascent villi. We further confirm the critical role for Dnmt1 during crypt development using the in vitro organoid culture system, and illustrate a clear differential requirement for Dnmt1 in immature versus mature organoids. These results demonstrate an essential role for Dnmt1 in maintaining genomic stability during intestinal development and the establishment of intestinal crypts. Overall design: We performed RNA-Seq of control and Dnmt1-ablated intestinal progenitor cells isolated from parrafin embedded tissues by laser capture microdissection (LCM).