RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The formation of fear extinction memory requires the accumulation of N6-methyl-2’-deoxyadenosine in DNA JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 059972 DO 10.1101/059972 A1 Xiang Li A1 Qiongyi Zhao A1 Wei Wei A1 Quan Lin A1 Christophe Magnan A1 Michael Emami A1 Luis E. Wearick da Silva A1 Thiago W. Viola A1 Paul Marshall A1 Jordan Edmunds A1 Sara Nainar A1 Cathrine Broberg Vågbø A1 Laura Leighton A1 Esmi Zajaczkowski A1 Ke Ke A1 Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira A1 Magnar Bjørås A1 Pierre F. Baldi A1 Robert C. Spitale A1 Timothy W. Bredy YR 2017 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/09/059972.abstract AB Here we report that the recently identified DNA modification N6-methyl-2’-deoxyadenosine (m6dA) is dynamically regulated in post-mitotic neurons and accumulates within promoters and genomic coding sequences of neurons activated by fear extinction learning in adult C57/Bl6 mice. The deposition of m6dA leads to an open chromatin state as well as the recruitment of the activating transcription factor Yin-Yang 1 and RNA polymerase II, which are critical for activity-induced brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene expression and required for the formation of fear extinction memory. These findings expand the scope of DNA modifications in the adult brain and highlight the discovery of DNA m6dA as novel neuroepigenetic mechanism associated with learning and memory.