Abstract
Somatic cloning has had a significant impact on the life sciences and is important in a variety of processes, including medical research and animal production. However, the application of somatic cloning has been limited due to its low success rate. Therefore, potential epigenetic variations between cloned and donor animals are still unclear. DNA methylation, one of the factors which is responsible for phenotypic differences in animals, is a commonly researched topic in epigenetic studies of mammals. To investigate the epigenetic variations between cloned and donor animals, we selected blood and ear fibroblasts of a donor pig and a cloned pig to perform whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS). A total of 215 and 707 differential methylation genes (DMGs) were identified in blood and ear fibroblasts, respectively. Functional annotation revealed that DMGs are enriched in many pathways, including T/B or natural killer (NK) cell differentiation, oocyte maturation, embryonic development, and reproductive hormone secretion. Moreover, 22 DMGs in the blood and 75 in the ear were associated with immune responses (e.g., CD244, CDK6, CD5, CD2, CD83, and CDC7). We also found that 18 DMGs in blood and 53 in ear fibroblasts were involved in reproduction. Understanding the expression patterns of DMGs, especially in relation to immune responses and reproduction, will reveal insights that will aid the advancement of future somatic cloning techniques in swine.
Highlights
Somatic cell nuclear transplantation (SCNT) technology has been widely studied in basic research in medical science and livestock production
This work aims to describe the characterization of these epigenetic changes in the examined tissues of a cloned sow, in order to provide some insights for genetic studies of cloning
This study has identified a number of immune-related regulatory factors such as CD244, CD2, CD83, CD5, and CDK6 with differences in methylation between the Cloned pig (CP) and the Donor pig (DP)
Summary
Somatic cell nuclear transplantation (SCNT) technology has been widely studied in basic research in medical science and livestock production. SCNT can produce genetically identical animals, and the production performance of the cloned animal can be similar to that of the donor. Somatic cell cloning inefficiency and phenotypic abnormalities are probably related to nuclear reprogramming, which may lead to a shortened life span for the cloned animals as well as diseases including, but not limited to severe pneumonia and thymic hypertrophy (Rideout et al, 2001; Ogura et al, 2002; Shimozawa et al, 2006). There is a lack of comparative studies on the reproductive performance and methylation of cloned and donor pigs which means that phenotypic and epigenetic differences between cloned and donor pigs are as yet unknown
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