Developmental methylation pattern regulates porcine GPR120 expression

作者：Wang, H. M.; Ma, J. D.; Jin, L.; Liu, Y. H.; Che, T. D.; Li, M. Z.^*; Li, X. W.^*

来源：Genetics and Molecular Research, 2016, 15(1): 15014240.

DOI：10.4238/gmr.15014240

• GPR120
• Methylation
• CpG islands
• Adipose tissue
• Pig

DNA methylation is an important component of the epigenetic machinery and plays a critical role in transcriptional regulation. It mostly occurs in CpG abundant regions, known as CpG islands (CGIs). G protein-coupled receptor 120 (GPR120) functions as an omega-3 fatty acid receptor and is involved in multiple-biological processes, including lipogenesis. Herein, we show that GPR120 is highly expressed in porcine mature adipose tissue and is positively associated with adipose tissue development (r = 0.86, P < 0.01). We also predicted 5 CGIs across the GPR120 genomic sequence and investigated their methylation status using the MassArray approach. Our results show that these CGIs exhibit significantly different methylation states (P-CGI < 0.01), and that the DNA methylation of GPR1205'-untranslated and first exon regions can negatively regulate its expression levels. This study will aid further investigations on the epigenetic mechanism regulating GPR120 expression.

• 出版日期2016
• 单位四川农业大学