Question

Retinoblastoma is a cancer that can occur when the RB1 gene is hypermethylated. RB1 is responsible for stopping progression through the cell cycle between G1 and S phase. Explain how you expect this increased methylation near the RB1 gene to change expression of RB1 and why this might lead to cancer.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

The RB1 gene is a tumor suppressor gene, Generally, DNA methylation regulates gene expression by recruiting proteins involved in gene repression or by inhibiting the binding of transcription factor(s) to DNA. Increased methylation near RB1 gene will result in the inhibition of the binding of transcription factor to DNA needed to code for proteins needed for gene suppression in this case, the retinoblastoma protein (pRb).