描述
3-methylcytosine is cytotoxic and mutagenic methylated base in DNA which can be generated by endogenous and environmental alkylation agents. The toxic lesions 3-methylcytosine is corrected by oxidative DNA demethylation catalyzed by DNA dioxygenases. These enzymes release the methyl moiety as formaldehyde, directly reversing the base damage. (PMID: 17112791) [HMDB]