The genomes of vertebrates are globally methylated, but a small portion of genomic regions are known to be hypomethylated. Although hypomethylated domains (HMDs) have been implicated in transcriptional regulation in various ways, how a HMD is determined in a particular genomic region remains elusive. To search for DNA motifs essential for the formation of HMDs, we performed the genome-wide comparative analysis of genome and DNA methylation patterns of the two medaka inbred lines, Hd-rRII1 and HNI-II, which are derived from northern and southern subpopulations of Japan and exhibit high levels of genetic variations (SNP, ∼ 3%). We successfully mapped > 70% of HMDs in both genomes and found that the majority of those mapped HMDs are conserved between the two lines (common HMDs). Unexpectedly, the average genetic variations are similar in the common HMD and other genome regions. However, we identified short well-conserved motifs that are specifically enriched in HMDs, suggesting that they may play roles in the establishment of HMDs in the medaka genome.
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1 August 2016
Comparative Analysis of Genome and Epigenome in Closely Related Medaka Species Identifies Conserved Sequence Preferences for DNA Hypomethylated Domains
Ayako Uno,
Ryohei Nakamura,
Tatsuya Tsukahara,
Wei Qu,
Sumio Sugano,
Yutaka Suzuki,
Shinichi Morishita,
Hiroyuki Takeda
Zoological Science
Vol. 33 • No. 4
August 2016
Vol. 33 • No. 4
August 2016
DNA methylation
methylome
pluripotent cell
SNP
speciation
transcriptome