Comparative Analysis of Skeletal Muscle DNA Methylation and Transcriptome of the Chicken Embryo at Different Developmental Stages.

Jinshan Ran,Yiping Liu,Donghao Zhang,Jingjing Li,Chunlin Yu,Xiaosong Jiang,Chaowu Yang,Huarui Du,Lingqian Yin

doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.697121

Abstract

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic mechanism involved in embryonic muscle development and plays an important role in early muscle development. In this study, we sought to investigate the effects of genome-wide DNA methylation by combining the expression profiles of the chicken embryonic muscle. Genome-wide DNA methylation maps and transcriptomes of muscle tissues collected from different embryonic development points (E7, E11, E17, and D1) were used for whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and RNA sequencing, respectively. We found that the differentially methylated genes (DMGs) were significantly associated with muscle organ development, regulation of skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation, and actin filament depolymerization. Furthermore, genes TBX1, MEF2D, SPEG, CFL2, and TWF2 were strongly correlated with the methylation-caused expression switch. Therefore, we chose the CFL2 gene to explore its function in skeletal muscle satellite cells, and the in vitro experiments showed that CFL2 acts as a negative regulator of chicken skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation and can induce cell apoptosis. These results provide valuable data for future genome and epigenome studies of chicken skeletal muscle and may help reveal the molecular mechanisms of potential economic traits.

Highlights

IntroductionAs the main component of meat, is one of the most important agricultural animal economic traits
Skeletal muscle, as the main component of meat, is one of the most important agricultural animal economic traits
From the genome wide DNA methylation landscape, cytosine with CG context accounted for the largest proportion in all developmental periods; more than 93% of methylated cytosines were adjacent to the guanines (Supplementary Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

As the main component of meat, is one of the most important agricultural animal economic traits. It is developed from myogenic precursor cells called myoblasts. Myoblasts proliferate and differentiate into myotubes, and myotubes differentiate into muscle fibers (Picard et al, 2002). Postnatal muscle growth is mainly achieved by skeletal muscle satellite cells fusing with existing fibers to cause muscle hypertrophy. These satellite cells have the potential of stem cells.

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