Single Site Discrimination of Cytosine, 5-Methylcytosine, and 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine in Target DNA Using Anthracene-Tagged Fluorescent Probes

The ability to discriminate between epigenetic variants in DNA is a necessary tool if we are to increase our understanding of the roles that they play in various biological processes and medical conditions. Herein, it is demonstrated how a simple two-step fluorescent probe assay can be used to differentiate all three major epigenetic variants of cytosine at a single locus site in a target strand of DNA.