• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.28-37
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• 2017

Obesity is a highly prevalent, chronic disorder that has been increasing in incidence in young patients. Both epigenetic and genetic aberrations may play a role in the pathogenesis of obesity. Therefore, in-depth epigenomic and genomic analyses will advance our understanding of the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying obesity and aid in the selection of potential biomarkers for obesity in youth. Here, we performed microarray-based DNA methylation and gene expression profiling of peripheral white blood cells obtained from six young, obese individuals and six healthy controls. We observed that the hierarchical clustering of DNA methylation, but not gene expression, clearly segregates the obese individuals from the controls, suggesting that the metabolic disturbance that occurs as a result of obesity at a young age may affect the DNA methylation of peripheral blood cells without accompanying transcriptional changes. To examine the genome-wide differences in the DNA methylation profiles of young obese and control individuals, we identified differentially methylated CpG sites and investigated their genomic and epigenomic contexts. The aberrant DNA methylation patterns in obese individuals can be summarized as relative gains and losses of DNA methylation in gene promoters and gene bodies, respectively. We also observed that the CpG islands of obese individuals are more susceptible to DNA methylation compared to controls. Our pilot study suggests that the genome-wide aberrant DNA methylation patterns of obese individuals may advance not only our understanding of the epigenomic pathogenesis but also early screening of obesity in youth.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.1917-1921
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• 2012

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Genome wide analysis studies have identified sequence mutations causing loss-of-function that are associated with disease occurrence and severity. Epigenetic modifications, such DNA methylation, have also been implicated in many cancers but have yet to be examined in the East Asian population of colorectal cancer patients. Methods: Biopsies of tumors and matched non-cancerous tissue types were obtained and genomic DNA was isolated and subjected to the bisulphite conversion method for comparative DNA methylation analysis on the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation27 BeadChip. Results: Totals of 258 and 74 genes were found to be hyper- and hypo-methylated as compared to the individual's matched control tissue. Interestingly, three genes that exhibited hypermethylation in their promoter regions, CMTM2, ECRG4, and SH3GL3, were shown to be significantly associated with colorectal cancer in previous studies. Using heatmap cluster analysis, eight hypermethylated and 10 hypomethylated genes were identified as significantly differentially methylated genes in the tumour tissues. Conclusions: Genome-wide methylation profiling facilitates rapid and simultaneous analysis of cancerous cells which may help to identify methylation markers with high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis and prognosis. Our results show the promise of the microarray technology in identification of potential methylation biomarkers for colorectal cancers.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제26권7호
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• pp.855-867
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• 2016

말은 인류에 의해 상대적으로 일찍 가축화된 종 중 하나로써, 경주능력, 강건성 및 항병성 등과 같은 능력을 위해 인공적으로 선택되었다. 그 결과, 현재 경주마로 많이 쓰이고 있는 서러브레드의 게놈은 운동 능력에 특화된 유전자형을 많이 갖고 있다. 최근 NGS 기술의 도래와 함께 전장게놈을 대상으로 경주마의 우수한 유전형질을 찾는 연구가 유전체학의 관점에서 진행되고 있다. 그 결과 말의 게놈에 대해서도 GWAS (Genome-wide Association study)가 적용되고 있고, 우수 경주능력을 나타내는 유전자 마커가 발굴되고 있다. 아울러, 특정 샘플의 전장 전사체를 NGS 기법으로 분석할 수 있는 RNA-Seq 기법 역시 활용되고 있는데, 이를 통하여 각 개체별, 운동 전후, 한 개체의 조직별 특정 유전자의 발현 양상과 함께 전사체의 서열 등을 확인할 수 있다. DNA 서열의 변화 없이 유전자 발현을 조절하는 강력한 인자로써 DNA methylation이 주목받고 있다. 말의 게놈에 있어서도 운동 특이적 또는 개체 특이적 DNA methylation 패턴을 보여 주었고, 이는 우수 개체 선정을 위한 마커 개발에 좋은 단서를 제공해 줄 것이다. 유전자 발현을 억제하는 miRNA와, 포유동물의 유전체 내 절반 정도를 차지하고 있는 이동성 유전인자는 기능유전체 연구에 있어서 중요한 인자들이다. 이들은 인간의 게놈에서 많이 연구가 되어 왔으나, 말에서의 연구는 현재 미미한 실정이다. 하지만, 현재까지 말에서 되어 있는 위의 두 인자에 대한 연구 현황을 알아보고, 차후 우수 마 선별 연구에 적용될 가능성을 제시하였다. 기능유전체 및 후성유전체 분석 기법이 발전함에 따라 말에서도 본 연구에서 소개된 여러 가지 분석 기법이 적용되고, 우수한 경주마를 선정하는 데 많은 도움을 줄 것으로 기대하고 있다. 이에 현재까지의 우수한 경주마를 선택하기 위한 많은 연구들 및, 말 연구에 대한 앞으로의 발전 가능성에 대해 고찰하고 토의하였다.

• BMB Reports
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• 제56권10호
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• pp.563-568
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• 2023

DNA methylation regulates gene expression and contributes to tumorigenesis in the early stages of cancer. In colorectal cancer (CRC), CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) is recognized as a distinct subset that is associated with specific molecular and clinical features. In this study, we investigated the genome-wide DNA methylation patterns among patients with CRC. The methylation data of 1 unmatched normal, 142 adjacent normal, and 294 tumor samples were analyzed. We identified 40,003 differentially methylated positions with 6,933 (79.8%) hypermethylated and 16,145 (51.6%) hypomethylated probes in the genic region. Hypermethylated probes were predominantly found in promoter-like regions, CpG islands, and N shore sites; hypomethylated probes were enriched in open-sea regions. CRC tumors were categorized into three CIMP subgroups, with 90 (30.6%) in the CIMP-high (CIMP-H), 115 (39.1%) in the CIMP-low (CIMP-L), and 89 (30.3%) in the non-CIMP group. The CIMP-H group was associated with microsatellite instability-high tumors, hypermethylation of MLH1, older age, and right-sided tumors. Our results showed that genome-wide methylation analyses classified patients with CRC into three subgroups according to CIMP levels, with clinical and molecular features consistent with previous data.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.189-197
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• 2018

Objective: Hemicastration is a unilateral orchiectomy to remove an injured testis, which can induce hormonal changes and compensatory hypertrophy of the remaining testis, and may influence spermatogenesis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of hemicastration on remaining testicular function. Methods: Prepubertal mice (age 24 days) were hemicastrated, and their growth was monitored until they reached physical maturity (age 72 days). Subsequently, we determined testis DNA methylation patterns using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing of normal and hemicastrated mice. Moreover, we profiled the testicular gene expression patterns by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to examine whether methylation changes affected gene expression in hemicastrated mice. Results: Hemicastration did not significantly affect growth or testosterone (p>0.05) compared with control. The genome-wide DNA methylation pattern of remaining testis suggested that substantial genes harbored differentially methylated regions (1,139) in gene bodies, which were enriched in process of protein binding and cell adhesion. Moreover, RNA-seq results indicated that 46 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in meiotic cell cycle, synaptonemal complex assembly and spermatogenesis were upregulated in the hemicastration group, while 197 DEGs were downregulated, which were related to arachidonic acid metabolism. Integrative analysis revealed that proteasome 26S subunit ATPase 3 interacting protein gene, which encodes a protein crucial for homologous recombination in spermatocytes, exhibited promoter hypomethylation and higher expression level in hemicastrated mice. Conclusion: Global profiling of DNA methylation and gene expression demonstrated that hemicastration-induced compensatory response maintained normal growth and testicular morphological structure in mice.