BioProject

Embryogenesis is tightly regulated by multiple levels of epigenetic systems such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin remodeling. More...

Embryogenesis is tightly regulated by multiple levels of epigenetic systems such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin remodeling. DNA methylation patterns are erased in primordial germ cells and in the interval immediately following fertilization. Subsequent reprogramming occurs by de novo methylation and demethylation. Variance of DNA methylation patterns between different cell types is not well understood. Here, using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation and tiling array technology, we have comprehensively analysed DNA methylation patterns at proximal promoter regions in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, ES cell-derived early germ layers (ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm) and four adult tissues (brain, liver, skeletal muscle and sperm). Most of the methylated regions in the three germ layers and in the three adult somatic tissues are shared in common. This commonly methylated gene set is enriched in germ cell associated genes that are generally transcriptionally inactive in somatic cells. We also compared DNA methylation patterns with global mapping of histone H3 lysine 4/27 trimethylation, and found that gain of DNA methylation correlates with loss of histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation. Taken together, our findings indicate that differentiation from ES cells to the three germ layers is accompanied by an increase in the number of commonly methylated DNA regions and that these tissue-specific alterations are present for only a small number of genes. Our findings indicate that DNA methylation at the proximal promoter regions of commonly methylated genes act as an irreversible mark which fixes somatic lineage by repressing transcription of germ cell specific genes. Overall design: Expression profiling of SK7 ES cells, SK7 derived-Ectoderm, - Endoderm, and -Paraxial mesoderm, and brain, liver, skeletal muscle tissues from ICR mouse. Less...