Ma Jinnan, Zhang Liang, Huang Yan, Shen Fujun, Wu Honglin, Yang Zhisong, Hou Rong, Song Zhaobin, Yue Bisong, Zhang Xiuyue
Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, No.24 South Section 1, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, China.
The Sichuan Key Laboratory for Conservation Biology of Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, 1375 Panda Road, Northern Suburb, Chengdu, Sichuan 610081, China.
Genomics. 2022 May;114(3):110342. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2022.110342. Epub 2022 Mar 17.
Giant pandas are unique within Carnivora with a strict bamboo diet. Here, the epigenomic profiles of giant panda liver and pancreas tissues collected from three important feeding stages were investigated using BS-seq. Few differences in DNA methylation profiles were exhibited between no feeding and suckling groups in both tissues. However, we observed a tendency toward a global loss of DNA methylation in the gene-body and promoter region of metabolism-related genes from newborn to adult. Correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the changes in methylation levels within gene promoters and gene expression. The majority of genes related to nutrition metabolism had lost DNA methylation with increased mRNA expression in adult giant pandas. The few galactose metabolism and unsaturated fatty acid metabolism related genes that were hypomethylated and highly-expressed at early stages of giant panda development may meet the nutritional requirement of this species' highly altricial neonates.
大熊猫在食肉目动物中独一无二，以严格的竹子为食。在此，我们使用全基因组亚硫酸氢盐测序（BS-seq）研究了从三个重要进食阶段采集的大熊猫肝脏和胰腺组织的表观基因组图谱。在这两种组织中，未进食组和哺乳组之间的DNA甲基化图谱几乎没有差异。然而，我们观察到从新生到成年，代谢相关基因的基因体和启动子区域存在整体DNA甲基化缺失的趋势。相关性分析显示，基因启动子内甲基化水平的变化与基因表达之间存在显著负相关。在成年大熊猫中，大多数与营养代谢相关的基因随着mRNA表达的增加而失去了DNA甲基化。少数在大熊猫发育早期低甲基化且高表达的与半乳糖代谢和不饱和脂肪酸代谢相关的基因，可能满足了该物种高度依赖母体的新生儿的营养需求。
