Definition:

Dioxygenase that catalyzes the conversion of the modified genomic base 5-methylcytosine (5mC) into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and plays a key role in active DNA demethylation. Also mediates subsequent conversion of 5hmC into 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and conversion of 5fC to 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC). In addition to its role in DNA demethylation, plays a more general role in chromatin regulation by recruiting histone modifying protein complexes to alter histone marks and chromatin accessibility, leading to both activation and repression of gene expression. Plays therefore a role in many biological processes and diseases, including stem cell maintenance, T and B-cell development, inflammation regulation, genomic imprinting, neural activity or DNA repair. Involved in the balance between pluripotency and lineage commitment of cells it plays a role in embryonic stem cells maintenance and inner cell mass cell specification. Plays an important role in the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells. TET1-mediated production of 5hmC acts as a recruitment signal for the CHTOP-methylosome complex to selective sites on the chromosome, where it methylates H4R3 and activates the transcription of genes involved in glioblastomagenesis. Binds preferentially to DNA containing cytidine-phosphate-guanosine (CpG) dinucleotides over CpH (H=A, T, and C), hemimethylated-CpG and hemimethylated-hydroxymethyl-CpG. Plays an essential role in the protection and maintenance of transcriptional and developmental programs together with QSER1 to inhibit the binding of DNMT3A/3B and therefore de novo methylation.