• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1532-1539
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• 2014

Although growth rate is one of the main economic traits of concern in pig production, there is limited knowledge on its epigenetic regulation, such as DNA methylation. In this study, we conducted methyl-CpG binding domain protein-enriched genome sequencing (MBD-seq) to compare genome-wide DNA methylation profile of small intestine and liver tissue between fast- and slow-growing weaning piglets. The genome-wide methylation pattern between the two different growing groups showed similar proportion of CpG (regions of DNA where a cytosine nucleotide occurs next to a guanine nucleotide in the linear sequence) coverage, genomic regions, and gene regions. Differentially methylated regions and genes were also identified for downstream analysis. In canonical pathway analysis using differentially methylated genes, pathways (triacylglycerol pathway, some cell cycle related pathways, and insulin receptor signaling pathway) expected to be related to growth rate were enriched in the two organ tissues. Differentially methylated genes were also organized in gene networks related to the cellular development, growth, and carbohydrate metabolism. Even though further study is required, the result of this study may contribute to the understanding of epigenetic regulation in pig growth.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1571-1576
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• 2016

Alteration of the acetylation status of chromatin and other non-histone proteins by HDAC inhibitors has evolved as an excellent epigenetic strategy in treatment of cancers. The present study was sought to identify compounds with positive pharmacological profiles targeting HDAC1. Analogues of Vorinostat synthesized by Cai et al, 2015 formed the test compounds for the present pharmacological evaluation. Hydroxamte analogue 6H showed superior pharmacological profile in comparison to all the compounds in the analogue dataset owing to its better electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding patterns. In order to identify compounds with even better high affinity and pharmacological profile than 6H and Vorinostat, virtual screening was performed. A total of 83 compounds similar to Vorinostat and 154 compounds akin to analogue 6H were retrieved. SCHEMBL15675695 (PubCid: 15739209) and AKOS019005527 (PubCid: 80442147) similar to Vorinostat and 6H, were the best docked compounds among the virtually screened compounds. However, in spite of having good affinity, none of the virtually screened compounds had better affinity than that of 6H. In addition SCHEMBL15675695 was predicted to be a carcinogen while AKOS019005527 is Ames toxic. From, our extensive analysis involving binding affinity analysis, ADMET properties predictions and pharmacophoric mappings, we report Vorinostat hydroxamate analogue 6H to be a potential candidate for HDAC inhibition in treatment of cancers through an epigenetic strategy.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.164-173
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• 2013

Genomic instability, which occurs through both genetic mechanisms (underlying inheritable phenotypic variations caused by DNA sequence-dependent alterations, such as mutation, deletion, insertion, inversion, translocation, and chromosomal aneuploidy) and epigenomic aberrations (underlying inheritable phenotypic variations caused by DNA sequence-independent alterations caused by a change of chromatin structure, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications), is known to promote tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Mechanisms involve both genomic instability and epigenomic aberrations that lose or gain the function of genes that impinge on tumor suppression/prevention or oncogenesis. Growing evidence points to an epigenome-wide disruption that involves large-scale DNA hypomethylation but specific hyper-methylation of tumor suppressor genes, large blocks of aberrant histone modifications, and abnormal miRNA expression profile. Emerging molecular details regarding the modulation of these epigenetic events in cancer are used to illustrate the alterations of epigenetic molecules, and their consequent malfunctions could contribute to cancer biology. More recently, intriguing evidence supporting that genetic and epigenetic mechanisms are not separate events in cancer has been emerging; they intertwine and take advantage of each other during tumorigenesis. In addition, we discuss the collusion between epigenetics and genetics mediated by heterochromatin protein 1, a major component of heterochromatin, in order to maintain genome integrity.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.11-11
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• 2014

Fungal pathogens have huge impact on health and economic wellbeing of human by causing life-threatening mycoses in immune-compromised patients or by destroying crop plants. A key determinant of fungal pathogenesis is their ability to undergo developmental change in response to host or environmental factors. Genetic pathways that regulate such morphological transitions and adaptation are therefore extensively studied during the last few decades. Given that epigenetic as well as genetic components play pivotal roles in development of plants and mammals, contribution of microbial epigenetic counterparts to this morphogenetic process is intriguing yet nearly unappreciated question to date. To bridge this gap in our knowledge, we set out to investigate histone modifications among epigenetic mechanisms that possibly regulate fungal adaptation and processes involved in pathogenesis of a model plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. M. oryzae is a causal agent of rice blast disease, which destroys 10 to 30% of the rice crop annually. Since the rice is the staple food for more than half of human population, the disease is a major threat to global food security. In addition to the socioeconomic impact of the disease it causes, the fungus is genetically tractable and can undergo well-defined morphological transitions including asexual spore production and appressorium (a specialized infection structure) formation in vitro, making it a model to study fungal development and pathogenicity. For functional and comparative analysis of histone modifications, a web-based database (dbHiMo) was constructed to archive and analyze histone modifying enzymes from eukaryotic species whose genome sequences are available. Histone modifying enzymes were identified applying a search pipeline built upon profile hidden Markov model (HMM) to proteomes. The database incorporates 22,169 histone-modifying enzymes identified from 342 species including 214 fungal, 33 plants, and 77 metazoan species. The dbHiMo provides users with web-based personalized data browsing and analysis tools, supporting comparative and evolutionary genomics. Based on the database entries, functional analysis of genes encoding histone acetyltransferases and histone demethylases is under way. Here I provide examples of such analyses that show how histone acetylation and methylation is implicated in regulating important aspects of fungal pathogenesis. Current analysis of histone modifying enzymes will be followed by ChIP-Seq and RNA-seq experiments to pinpoint the genes that are controlled by particular histone modifications. We anticipate that our work will provide not only the significant advances in our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms operating in microbial eukaryotes but also basis to expand our perspective on regulation of development in fungal pathogens.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

Epigenetic alterations are common features of human solid tumors, though global DNA methylation has been difficult to assess. Restriction Landmark Genomic Scanning (RLGS) is one of technology to examine epigenetic alterations at several thousand Notl sites of promoter regions in tumor genome. To assess sequence information for Notl sequences in RLGS gel, we cloned 1,161 unique Notl-linked clones, compromising about 60% of the spots in the soluble region of RLGS profile, and performed BLAT searches on the UCSC genome server, May 2004 Freeze. 1,023 (88%) unique sequences were matched to the CpG islands of human genome showing a large bias of RLGS toward identifying potential genes or CpG islands. The cloned Notl-loci had a high frequency (71%) of occurrence within CpG islands near the 5' ends of known genes rather than within CpG islands near the 3' ends or intragenic regions, making RLGS a potent tool for the identification of gene-associated methylation events. By mixing RLGS gels with all Notl-linked clones, we addressed 151 Notl sequences onto a standard RLGS gel and compared them with previous reports from several types of tumors. We hope our sequence information will be useful to identify novel epigenetic targets in any types of tumor genome.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.6129-6133
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• 2015

miR-129-2 is frequently downregulated in multiple cancers. However, how it is silenced in cancers remains unclear. Here we investigated the expression profile and potential biological function of miR-129-2 in glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and lethal form of brain tumors in adults. We showed that miR-129-2 is lost in GBM patient specimens and cultured cell lines. miR-129-2 expression could be restored upon treatment with a histone deadetylase inhibitor (trichostatin A) but not a DNA methylation inhibitor (5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine), and more profound effect was observed with the treatment of these two drugs in combination. Furthermore, forced expression of miR-129-2 repressed the expression of major oncogenic genes such as PDGFRa and Foxp1 in GBMs. Consistently, expression of miR-129-2 significantly inhibits GBM cell proliferation in vitro. These results reveal that miR-129-2 is epigenetically regulated and functions as a tumor suppressor gene in GBMs, suggesting it may serve as a potential therapeutic target for GBM treatment.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.165-168
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• 2012

Hox proteins containing DNA-binding homedomain act as transcription factors important for anteroposterior body patterning during vertebrate embryogenesis. However, the precise mechanisms by which signal pathways are transduced to regulate the Hox gene expression are not clear. In the course of an attempt to isolate an upstream regulatory factor(s) controlling Hox genes, protein kinase B alpha (Akt1) has been identified as a putative regulator of Hox genes through in silico analysis (GEO profile). In the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset GDS1784 at the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) site, Hox genes were differentially expressed depending on the presence or absence of Akt1. Since it was not well known how Akt1 regulates the specific Hox genes, whose transcription was reported to be regulated by epigenetic modifications such as histone acetylation, methylation etc., the expression of Gcn5, a histone acetyltransferase (HAT), was analyzed in wild type (WT) as well as in $Akt1^{-/-}$ mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells. RT-PCR analysis revealed that the amount of Gcn5 mRNA was similar in both WT and $Akt1^{-/-}$ MEFs. However, the protein level of Gcn5 was significantly increased in $Akt1^{-/-}$ MEF cells. The half life of Gcn5 was 1 hour in wild type whereas 8 hours in $Akt1^{-/-}$ MEF. These data all together, indicate that Gcn5 is post-transcriptionally down-regulated and the protein stability is negatively regulated by Akt1 in MEF cells.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 2008

Background: Epigenetic alterations in certain genes are now known as at least important as genetic mutation in pathogenesis of cancer. Especially abnormal hypermethylation in or near promoter region of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) are known to result in gene silencing and loss of gene function eventually. The authors tried to search for new lung cancer-specific TSGs which have CpG islands and HpaII sites, and are thought to be involved in carcinogenesis by epigenetic mechanism. Methods: Tumor tissue and corresponding adjacent normal tissue were obtained from 10 patients who diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and underwent surgery in Konyang university hospital in 2005. Methylation profiles of promoter region of 21 genes in tumor tissue & non-tumor tissue were examined with HpaII-MspI methylation microarray (Methyl-Scan DNA chip$^{(R)}$, Genomic tree, Inc, South Korea). The rates of hypermethylation were compared in tumor and non-tumor group, and as a normal control, we obtained lung tissue from two young patients with pneumothorax during bullectomies, methylation profiles were examined in the same way. Results: Among the 21 genes, 10 genes were commonly methylated in tumor, non-tumor, and control group. The 6 genes of APC, AR, RAR-b, HTR1B, EPHA3, and CFTR, among the rest of 11 genes were not methylated in control, and more frequently hypermethylated in tumor tissue than non-tumor tissue. Conclusion: In the present study, HTR1B, EPHA3, and CFTR are suggested as possible novel TSGs of NSCLC by epigenetic mechanism.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.343-352
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• 2022

The advent of the assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) has shown great potential as a leading method for analyzing the genome-wide profiling of chromatin accessibility. A comprehensive reference to the ATAC-seq dataset for disease progression is important for understanding the regulatory specificity caused by genetic or epigenetic changes. In this study, we present a genome-wide chromatin accessibility profile of 44 liver samples spanning the full histological spectrum of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We analyzed the ATAC-seq signal enrichment, fragment size distribution, and correlation coefficients according to the histological severity of NAFLD (healthy control vs steatosis vs fibrotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), demonstrating the high quality of the dataset. Consequently, 112,303 merged regions (genomic regions containing one or multiple overlapping peak regions) were identified. Additionally, we found differentially accessible regions (DARs) and performed transcription factor binding motif enrichment analysis and de novo motif analysis to determine new biomarker candidates. These data revealed the gene-regulatory interactions and noncoding factors that can affect NAFLD progression. In summary, our study provides a valuable resource for the human epigenome by applying an advanced approach to facilitate diagnosis and treatment by understanding the non-coding genome of NAFLD.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2008

The modification of DNA and histone plays an important role for gene expression in plant development. The objective of this research is to observe the effects of methylation on the gene expression during dedifferentiation from rice mature seeds to callus and differentiation from callus to shoots. The embryogenic callus with ability to shoot regeneration was not induced on the N6A medium supplemented with 5-azacytidine and abnormal callus with brown color was formed. When the normal rice callus was placed on the regeneration MSRA medium supplemented with 5-azacytidine, the shoot regeneration was inhibited. The results showed that 5-azacytidine, DNA demethylating agent, had negative effects on normal embryogenic callus formation and shoot regeneration. This suggested that DNA methylation of some genes was required for normal cell dedifferentiation and differentiation in tissue culture. The microarray and $GeneFishig^{TM}$ DEG screening were used to observe the gene transcript profile in callus induction and regeneration on N6A (N6 medium + 5-azaC) and MSRA (MS regeneration medium + 5-azaC). Subsets of genes were up-regulated or down-regulated in response to 5-azaC treatments. The genes related with epigenetic regulation, electron transport, nucleic acid metabolism and response to stress were up and down regulated. The different expression of some genes (germin like protein etc.) during callus induction and shoot regeneration was confirmed using RT-PCR and northern blot analysis.