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Kuraz Abebe B, Wang J, Guo J, Wang H, Li A, Zan L. A review of the role of epigenetic studies for intramuscular fat deposition in beef cattle. Gene 2024; 908:148295. [PMID: 38387707 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.148295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition profoundly influences meat quality and economic value in beef cattle production. Meanwhile, contemporary developments in epigenetics have opened new outlooks for understanding the molecular basics of IMF regulation, and it has become a key area of research for world scholars. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to provide insight and synthesis into the intricate relationship between epigenetic mechanisms and IMF deposition in beef cattle. The methodology involves a thorough analysis of existing literature, including pertinent books, academic journals, and online resources, to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of epigenetic studies in IMF deposition in beef cattle. This review summarizes the contemporary studies in epigenetic mechanisms in IMF regulation, high-resolution epigenomic mapping, single-cell epigenomics, multi-omics integration, epigenome editing approaches, longitudinal studies in cattle growth, environmental epigenetics, machine learning in epigenetics, ethical and regulatory considerations, and translation to industry practices from perspectives of IMF deposition in beef cattle. Moreover, this paper highlights DNA methylation, histone modifications, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitylation, non-coding RNAs, DNA hydroxymethylation, epigenetic readers, writers, and erasers, chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing, whole genome bisulfite sequencing, epigenome-wide association studies, and their profound impact on the expression of crucial genes governing adipogenesis and lipid metabolism. Nutrition and stress also have significant influences on epigenetic modifications and IMF deposition. The key findings underscore the pivotal role of epigenetic studies in understanding and enhancing IMF deposition in beef cattle, with implications for precision livestock farming and ethical livestock management. In conclusion, this review highlights the crucial significance of epigenetic pathways and environmental factors in affecting IMF deposition in beef cattle, providing insightful information for improving the economics and meat quality of cattle production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belete Kuraz Abebe
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China; Department of Animal Science, Werabe University, P.O. Box 46, Werabe, Ethiopia
| | - Jianfang Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China
| | - Juntao Guo
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China
| | - Hongbao Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China
| | - Anning Li
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China
| | - Linsen Zan
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China; National Beef Cattle Improvement Center, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People's Republic of China.
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2
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Innis SM, Cabot RA. Chromatin profiling and state predictions reveal insights into epigenetic regulation during early porcine development. Epigenetics Chromatin 2024; 17:16. [PMID: 38773546 PMCID: PMC11106951 DOI: 10.1186/s13072-024-00542-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/24/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Given their physiological similarities to humans, pigs are increasingly used as model organisms in human-oriented biomedical studies. Additionally, their value to animal agriculture across the globe has led to the development of numerous studies to investigate how to improve livestock welfare and production efficiency. As such, pigs are uniquely poised as compelling models that can yield findings with potential implications in both human and animal contexts. Despite this, many gaps remain in our knowledge about the foundational mechanisms that govern gene expression in swine across different developmental stages, particularly in early development. To address some of these gaps, we profiled the histone marks H3K4me3, H3K27ac, and H3K27me3 and the SWI/SNF central ATPase BRG1 in two porcine cell lines representing discrete early developmental time points and used the resulting information to construct predicted chromatin state maps for these cells. We combined this approach with analysis of publicly available RNA-seq data to examine the relationship between epigenetic status and gene expression in these cell types. RESULTS In porcine fetal fibroblast (PFF) and trophectoderm cells (PTr2), we saw expected patterns of enrichment for each of the profiled epigenetic features relative to specific genomic regions. H3K4me3 was primarily enriched at and around global gene promoters, H3K27ac was enriched in promoter and intergenic regions, H3K27me3 had broad stretches of enrichment across the genome and narrower enrichment patterns in and around the promoter regions of some genes, and BRG1 primarily had detectable enrichment at and around promoter regions and in intergenic stretches, with many instances of H3K27ac co-enrichment. We used this information to perform genome-wide chromatin state predictions for 10 different states using ChromHMM. Using the predicted chromatin state maps, we identified a subset of genomic regions marked by broad H3K4me3 enrichment, and annotation of these regions revealed that they were highly associated with essential developmental processes and consisted largely of expressed genes. We then compared the identities of the genes marked by these regions to genes identified as cell-type-specific using transcriptome data and saw that a subset of broad H3K4me3-marked genes was also specifically expressed in either PFF or PTr2 cells. CONCLUSIONS These findings enhance our understanding of the epigenetic landscape present in early swine development and provide insight into how variabilities in chromatin state are linked to cell identity. Furthermore, this data captures foundational epigenetic details in two valuable porcine cell lines and contributes to the growing body of knowledge surrounding the epigenetic landscape in this species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M Innis
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
| | - Ryan A Cabot
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
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3
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Castillo H, Hanna P, Sachs LM, Buisine N, Godoy F, Gilbert C, Aguilera F, Muñoz D, Boisvert C, Debiais-Thibaud M, Wan J, Spicuglia S, Marcellini S. Xenopus tropicalis osteoblast-specific open chromatin regions reveal promoters and enhancers involved in human skeletal phenotypes and shed light on early vertebrate evolution. Cells Dev 2024:203924. [PMID: 38692409 DOI: 10.1016/j.cdev.2024.203924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2024] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
While understanding the genetic underpinnings of osteogenesis has far-reaching implications for skeletal diseases and evolution, a comprehensive characterization of the osteoblastic regulatory landscape in non-mammalian vertebrates is still lacking. Here, we compared the ATAC-Seq profile of Xenopus tropicalis (Xt) osteoblasts to a variety of non mineralizing control tissues, and identified osteoblast-specific nucleosome free regions (NFRs) at 527 promoters and 6747 distal regions. Sequence analyses, Gene Ontology, RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq against four key histone marks confirmed that the distal regions correspond to bona fide osteogenic transcriptional enhancers exhibiting a shared regulatory logic with mammals. We report 425 regulatory regions conserved with human and globally associated to skeletogenic genes. Of these, 35 regions have been shown to impact human skeletal phenotypes by GWAS, including one trps1 enhancer and the runx2 promoter, two genes which are respectively involved in trichorhinophalangeal syndrome type I and cleidocranial dysplasia. Intriguingly, 60 osteoblastic NFRs also align to the genome of the elephant shark, a species lacking osteoblasts and bone tissue. To tackle this paradox, we chose to focus on dlx5 because its conserved promoter, known to integrate regulatory inputs during mammalian osteogenesis, harbours an osteoblast-specific NFR in both frog and human. Hence, we show that dlx5 is expressed in Xt and elephant shark odontoblasts, supporting a common cellular and genetic origin of bone and dentine. Taken together, our work (i) unravels the Xt osteogenic regulatory landscape, (ii) illustrates how cross-species comparisons harvest data relevant to human biology and (iii) reveals that a set of genes including bnc2, dlx5, ebf3, mir199a, nfia, runx2 and zfhx4 drove the development of a primitive form of mineralized skeletal tissue deep in the vertebrate lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Héctor Castillo
- Group for the Study of Developmental Processes (GDeP), School of Biological Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile.
| | - Patricia Hanna
- Group for the Study of Developmental Processes (GDeP), School of Biological Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile
| | - Laurent M Sachs
- UMR7221, Physiologie Moléculaire et Adaptation, CNRS, MNHN, Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Nicolas Buisine
- UMR7221, Physiologie Moléculaire et Adaptation, CNRS, MNHN, Paris Cedex 05, France
| | - Francisco Godoy
- Group for the Study of Developmental Processes (GDeP), School of Biological Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile
| | - Clément Gilbert
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 12 route 128, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Felipe Aguilera
- Group for the Study of Developmental Processes (GDeP), School of Biological Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile
| | - David Muñoz
- Group for the Study of Developmental Processes (GDeP), School of Biological Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile
| | - Catherine Boisvert
- School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Mélanie Debiais-Thibaud
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, ISEM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Jing Wan
- Aix-Marseille University, INSERM, TAGC, UMR 1090, Marseille, France; Equipe Labelisée LIGUE contre le Cancer, Marseille, France
| | - Salvatore Spicuglia
- Aix-Marseille University, INSERM, TAGC, UMR 1090, Marseille, France; Equipe Labelisée LIGUE contre le Cancer, Marseille, France
| | - Sylvain Marcellini
- Group for the Study of Developmental Processes (GDeP), School of Biological Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile.
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4
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Chen S, Liu S, Shi S, Yin H, Tang Y, Zhang J, Li W, Liu G, Qu K, Ding X, Wang Y, Liu J, Zhang S, Fang L, Yu Y. Cross-Species Comparative DNA Methylation Reveals Novel Insights into Complex Trait Genetics among Cattle, Sheep, and Goats. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae003. [PMID: 38266195 PMCID: PMC10834038 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The cross-species characterization of evolutionary changes in the functional genome can facilitate the translation of genetic findings across species and the interpretation of the evolutionary basis underlying complex phenotypes. Yet, this has not been fully explored between cattle, sheep, goats, and other mammals. Here, we systematically characterized the evolutionary dynamics of DNA methylation and gene expression in 3 somatic tissues (i.e. brain, liver, and skeletal muscle) and sperm across 7 mammalian species, including 3 ruminant livestock species (cattle, sheep, and goats), humans, pigs, mice, and dogs, by generating and integrating 160 DNA methylation and transcriptomic data sets. We demonstrate dynamic changes of DNA hypomethylated regions and hypermethylated regions in tissue-type manner across cattle, sheep, and goats. Specifically, based on the phylo-epigenetic model of DNA methylome, we identified a total of 25,074 hypomethylated region extension events specific to cattle, which participated in rewiring tissue-specific regulatory network. Furthermore, by integrating genome-wide association studies of 50 cattle traits, we provided novel insights into the genetic and evolutionary basis of complex phenotypes in cattle. Overall, our study provides a valuable resource for exploring the evolutionary dynamics of the functional genome and highlights the importance of cross-species characterization of multiomics data sets for the evolutionary interpretation of complex phenotypes in cattle livestock.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siqian Chen
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Shuli Liu
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
- School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| | - Shaolei Shi
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Hongwei Yin
- Agriculture Genome Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China
| | - Yongjie Tang
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Jinning Zhang
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Wenlong Li
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Gang Liu
- National Animal Husbandry Service, Beijing 100125, China
| | - Kaixing Qu
- Academy of Science and Technology, Chuxiong Normal University, Chuxiong 675000, China
| | - Xiangdong Ding
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Yachun Wang
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Jianfeng Liu
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Shengli Zhang
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Lingzhao Fang
- Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics (QGG), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Ying Yu
- National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
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5
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Koller F, Cieslak M. A perspective from the EU: unintended genetic changes in plants caused by NGT-their relevance for a comprehensive molecular characterisation and risk assessment. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1276226. [PMID: 37965049 PMCID: PMC10641861 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1276226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Several regions in the world are currently holding discussions in regard to the regulation of new genomic techniques (NGTs) and their application in agriculture. The European Commission, for instance, is proposing the introduction of specific regulation for NGT plants. Various questions need to be answered including e.g., the extent to which NGT-induced intended and unintended genetic modifications must be subjected to a mandatory risk assessment as part of an approval procedure. This review mostly focuses on findings in regard to unintended genetic changes that can be caused by the application of NGTs. More specifically, the review deals with the application of the nuclease CRISPR/Cas, which is currently the most important tool for developing NGT plants, and its potential to introduce double strand breaks (DSBs) at a targeted DNA sequence. For this purpose, we identified the differences in comparison to non-targeted mutagenesis methods used in conventional breeding. The review concludes that unintended genetic changes caused by NGT processes are relevant to risk assessment. Due to the technical characteristics of NGTs, the sites of the unintended changes, their genomic context and their frequency (in regard to specific sites) mean that the resulting gene combinations (intended or unintended) may be unlikely to occur with conventional methods. This, in turn, implies that the biological effects (phenotypes) can also be different and may cause risks to health and the environment. Therefore, we conclude that the assessment of intended as well as unintended genetic changes should be part of a mandatory comprehensive molecular characterisation and risk assessment of NGT plants that are meant for environmental releases or for market authorisation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Koller
- Fachstelle Gentechnik und Umwelt (FGU), Munich, Bavaria, Germany
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6
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Han JH, Lee HJ, Kim TH. Characterization of transcriptional enhancers in the chicken genome using CRISPR-mediated activation. Front Genome Ed 2023; 5:1269115. [PMID: 37953873 PMCID: PMC10634339 DOI: 10.3389/fgeed.2023.1269115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
DNA regulatory elements intricately control when, where, and how genes are activated. Therefore, understanding the function of these elements could unveil the complexity of the genetic regulation network. Genome-wide significant variants are predominantly found in non-coding regions of DNA, so comprehending the predicted functional regulatory elements is crucial for understanding the biological context of these genomic markers, which can be incorporated into breeding programs. The emergence of CRISPR technology has provided a powerful tool for studying non-coding regulatory elements in genomes. In this study, we leveraged epigenetic data from the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes project to identify promoter and putative enhancer regions associated with three genes (HBBA, IRF7, and PPARG) in the chicken genome. To identify the enhancer regions, we designed guide RNAs targeting the promoter and candidate enhancer regions and utilized CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) with dCas9-p300 and dCas9-VPR as transcriptional activators in chicken DF-1 cells. By comparing the expression levels of target genes between the promoter activation and the co-activation of the promoter and putative enhancers, we were able to identify functional enhancers that exhibited augmented upregulation. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate the remarkable efficiency of CRISPRa in precisely manipulating the expression of endogenous genes by targeting regulatory elements in the chicken genome, highlighting its potential for functional validation of non-coding regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeong Hoon Han
- Department of Animal Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Hong Jo Lee
- Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Tae Hyun Kim
- Department of Animal Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
- The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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7
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Yuan C, Tang L, Lopdell T, Petrov VA, Oget-Ebrad C, Moreira GCM, Gualdrón Duarte JL, Sartelet A, Cheng Z, Salavati M, Wathes DC, Crowe MA, Coppieters W, Littlejohn M, Charlier C, Druet T, Georges M, Takeda H. An organism-wide ATAC-seq peak catalog for the bovine and its use to identify regulatory variants. Genome Res 2023; 33:1848-1864. [PMID: 37751945 PMCID: PMC10691486 DOI: 10.1101/gr.277947.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
We report the generation of an organism-wide catalog of 976,813 cis-acting regulatory elements for the bovine detected by the assay for transposase accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq). We regroup these regulatory elements in 16 components by nonnegative matrix factorization. Correlation between the genome-wide density of peaks and transcription start sites, correlation between peak accessibility and expression of neighboring genes, and enrichment in transcription factor binding motifs support their regulatory potential. Using a previously established catalog of 12,736,643 variants, we show that the proportion of single-nucleotide polymorphisms mapping to ATAC-seq peaks is higher than expected and that this is owing to an approximately 1.3-fold higher mutation rate within peaks. Their site frequency spectrum indicates that variants in ATAC-seq peaks are subject to purifying selection. We generate eQTL data sets for liver and blood and show that variants that drive eQTL fall into liver- and blood-specific ATAC-seq peaks more often than expected by chance. We combine ATAC-seq and eQTL data to estimate that the proportion of regulatory variants mapping to ATAC-seq peaks is approximately one in three and that the proportion of variants mapping to ATAC-seq peaks that are regulatory is approximately one in 25. We discuss the implication of these findings on the utility of ATAC-seq information to improve the accuracy of genomic selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Can Yuan
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Lijing Tang
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Thomas Lopdell
- Research and Development, Livestock Improvement Corporation, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Vyacheslav A Petrov
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Claire Oget-Ebrad
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | | | - José Luis Gualdrón Duarte
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Arnaud Sartelet
- Clinical Department of Ruminant, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Zhangrui Cheng
- Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Herts AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
| | - Mazdak Salavati
- Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Herts AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
| | - D Claire Wathes
- Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Herts AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
| | - Mark A Crowe
- School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Wouter Coppieters
- GIGA Genomics platform, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Mathew Littlejohn
- Research and Development, Livestock Improvement Corporation, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Carole Charlier
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Tom Druet
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Michel Georges
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium;
| | - Haruko Takeda
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA-R and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
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8
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Salavati M, Clark R, Becker D, Kühn C, Plastow G, Dupont S, Moreira GCM, Charlier C, Clark EL. Improving the annotation of the cattle genome by annotating transcription start sites in a diverse set of tissues and populations using Cap Analysis Gene Expression sequencing. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2023; 13:jkad108. [PMID: 37216666 PMCID: PMC10411599 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkad108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the genomic control of tissue-specific gene expression and regulation can help to inform the application of genomic technologies in farm animal breeding programs. The fine mapping of promoters [transcription start sites (TSS)] and enhancers (divergent amplifying segments of the genome local to TSS) in different populations of cattle across a wide diversity of tissues provides information to locate and understand the genomic drivers of breed- and tissue-specific characteristics. To this aim, we used Cap Analysis Gene Expression (CAGE) sequencing, of 24 different tissues from 3 populations of cattle, to define TSS and their coexpressed short-range enhancers (<1 kb) in the ARS-UCD1.2_Btau5.0.1Y reference genome (1000bulls run9) and analyzed tissue and population specificity of expressed promoters. We identified 51,295 TSS and 2,328 TSS-Enhancer regions shared across the 3 populations (dairy, beef-dairy cross, and Canadian Kinsella composite cattle from 2 individuals, 1 of each sex, per population). Cross-species comparative analysis of CAGE data from 7 other species, including sheep, revealed a set of TSS and TSS-Enhancers that were specific to cattle. The CAGE data set will be combined with other transcriptomic information for the same tissues to create a new high-resolution map of transcript diversity across tissues and populations in cattle for the BovReg project. Here we provide the CAGE data set and annotation tracks for TSS and TSS-Enhancers in the cattle genome. This new annotation information will improve our understanding of the drivers of gene expression and regulation in cattle and help to inform the application of genomic technologies in breeding programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mazdak Salavati
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Richard Clark
- Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, Genetics Core, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Doreen Becker
- Institute of Genome Biology, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Dummerstorf 18196, Germany
| | - Christa Kühn
- Institute of Genome Biology, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Dummerstorf 18196, Germany
- Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University Rostock, Rostock 18059, Germany
| | - Graham Plastow
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, Livestock Gentec, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2H1, Canada
| | - Sébastien Dupont
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | | | - Carole Charlier
- Unit of Animal Genomics, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
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9
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Bai J, Lin Y, Zhang J, Chen Z, Wang Y, Li M, Li J. Profiling of Chromatin Accessibility in Pigs across Multiple Tissues and Developmental Stages. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:11076. [PMID: 37446255 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241311076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2023] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The study of chromatin accessibility across tissues and developmental stages is essential for elucidating the transcriptional regulation of various phenotypes and biological processes. However, the chromatin accessibility profiles of multiple tissues in newborn pigs and across porcine liver development remain poorly investigated. Here, we used ATAC-seq and rRNA-depleted RNA-seq to profile open chromatin maps and transcriptional features of heart, kidney, liver, lung, skeletal muscle, and spleen in newborn pigs and porcine liver tissue in the suckling and adult stages, respectively. Specifically, by analyzing a union set of protein-coding genes (PCGs) and two types of transcripts (lncRNAs and TUCPs), we obtained a comprehensive annotation of consensus ATAC-seq peaks for each tissue and developmental stage. As expected, the PCGs with tissue-specific accessible promoters had active transcription and were relevant to tissue-specific functions. In addition, other non-coding tissue-specific peaks were involved in both physical activity and the morphogenesis of neonatal tissues. We also characterized stage-specific peaks and observed a close association between dynamic chromatin accessibility and hepatic function transition during liver postnatal development. Overall, this study expands our current understanding of epigenetic regulation in mammalian tissues and organ development, which can benefit both economic trait improvement and improve the biomedical usage of pigs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyi Bai
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Yu Lin
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Jiaman Zhang
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Ziyu Chen
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Yujie Wang
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Mingzhou Li
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Jing Li
- Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
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10
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Gòdia M, Lian Y, Naval-Sanchez M, Ponte I, Rodríguez-Gil JE, Sanchez A, Clop A. Micrococcal nuclease sequencing of porcine sperm suggests enriched co-location between retained histones and genomic regions related to semen quality and early embryo development. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15520. [PMID: 37361042 PMCID: PMC10290446 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The mammalian spermatozoon has a unique chromatin structure in which the majority of histones are replaced by protamines during spermatogenesis and a small fraction of nucleosomes are retained at specific locations of the genome. The sperm's chromatin structure remains unresolved in most animal species, including the pig. However, mapping the genomic locations of retained nucleosomes in sperm could help understanding the molecular basis of both sperm development and function as well as embryo development. This information could then be useful to identify molecular markers for sperm quality and fertility traits. Here, micrococcal nuclease digestion coupled with high throughput sequencing was performed on pig sperm to map the genomic location of mono- and sub-nucleosomal chromatin fractions in relation to a set of diverse functional elements of the genome, some of which were related to semen quality and early embryogenesis. In particular, the investigated elements were promoters, the different sections of the gene body, coding and non-coding RNAs present in the pig sperm, potential transcription factor binding sites, genomic regions associated to semen quality traits and repeat elements. The analysis yielded 25,293 and 4,239 peaks in the mono- and sub-nucleosomal fractions, covering 0.3% and 0.02% of the porcine genome, respectively. A cross-species comparison revealed positional conservation of the nucleosome retention in sperm between the pig data and a human dataset that found nucleosome enrichment in genomic regions of importance in development. Both gene ontology analysis of the genes mapping nearby the mono-nucleosomal peaks and the identification of putative transcription factor binding motifs within the mono- and the sub- nucleosomal peaks showed enrichment for processes related to sperm function and embryo development. There was significant motif enrichment for Znf263, which in humans was suggested to be a key regulator of genes with paternal preferential expression during early embryogenesis. Moreover, enriched positional intersection was found in the genome between the mono-nucleosomal peaks and both the RNAs present in pig sperm and the RNAs related to sperm quality. There was no co-location between GWAS hits for semen quality in swine and the nucleosomal sites. Finally, the data evidenced depletion of mono-nucleosomes in long interspersed nuclear elements and enrichment of sub-nucleosomes in short interspersed repeat elements.These results suggest that retained nucleosomes in sperm could both mark regulatory elements or genes expressed during spermatogenesis linked to semen quality and fertility and act as transcriptional guides during early embryogenesis. The results of this study support the undertaking of ambitious research using a larger number of samples to robustly assess the positional relationship between histone retention in sperm and the reproductive ability of boars.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Gòdia
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics CRAG (CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB), Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
- Animal Breeding and Genomics, Wageningen University and Research, Wageninger, Netherlands
| | - Yu Lian
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics CRAG (CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB), Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
| | | | - Inma Ponte
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Joan Enric Rodríguez-Gil
- Animal Medicine and Surgery, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Armand Sanchez
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics CRAG (CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB), Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
- Animal and food sciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Alex Clop
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics CRAG (CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB), Cerdanyola del Vallés, Catalonia, Spain
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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11
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Zhang Q, Li Q, Wang Y, Zhang Y, Peng R, Wang Z, Zhu B, Xu L, Gao X, Chen Y, Gao H, Hu J, Qian C, Ma M, Duan R, Li J, Zhang L. Characterization of Chromatin Accessibility in Fetal Bovine Chondrocytes. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:1875. [PMID: 37889831 PMCID: PMC10251841 DOI: 10.3390/ani13111875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 05/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite significant advances of the bovine epigenome investigation, new evidence for the epigenetic basis of fetal cartilage development remains lacking. In this study, the chondrocytes were isolated from long bone tissues of bovine fetuses at 90 days. The Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) were used to characterize gene expression and chromatin accessibility profile in bovine chondrocytes. A total of 9686 open chromatin regions in bovine fetal chondrocytes were identified and 45% of the peaks were enriched in the promoter regions. Then, all peaks were annotated to the nearest gene for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encylopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Growth and development-related processes such as amide biosynthesis process (GO: 0043604) and translation regulation (GO: 006417) were enriched in the GO analysis. The KEGG analysis enriched endoplasmic reticulum protein processing signal pathway, TGF-β signaling pathway and cell cycle pathway, which are closely related to protein synthesis and processing during cell proliferation. Active transcription factors (TFs) were enriched by ATAC-seq, and were fully verified with gene expression levels obtained by RNA-seq. Among the top50 TFs from footprint analysis, known or potential cartilage development-related transcription factors FOS, FOSL2 and NFY were found. Overall, our data provide a theoretical basis for further determining the regulatory mechanism of cartilage development in bovine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Qian Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Yahui Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Yapeng Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Ruiqi Peng
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Zezhao Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Bo Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Lingyang Xu
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Xue Gao
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Yan Chen
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Huijiang Gao
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Junwei Hu
- Academy of Pingliang Red Cattle, 492 South Ring Road, Kongtong District, Pingliang 744000, China; (J.H.); (C.Q.); (M.M.); (R.D.)
| | - Cong Qian
- Academy of Pingliang Red Cattle, 492 South Ring Road, Kongtong District, Pingliang 744000, China; (J.H.); (C.Q.); (M.M.); (R.D.)
| | - Minghao Ma
- Academy of Pingliang Red Cattle, 492 South Ring Road, Kongtong District, Pingliang 744000, China; (J.H.); (C.Q.); (M.M.); (R.D.)
| | - Rui Duan
- Academy of Pingliang Red Cattle, 492 South Ring Road, Kongtong District, Pingliang 744000, China; (J.H.); (C.Q.); (M.M.); (R.D.)
| | - Junya Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
| | - Lupei Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.Z.); (Q.L.); (Y.W.); (Y.Z.); (R.P.); (Z.W.); (B.Z.); (L.X.); (X.G.); (Y.C.); (H.G.)
- Academy of Pingliang Red Cattle, 492 South Ring Road, Kongtong District, Pingliang 744000, China; (J.H.); (C.Q.); (M.M.); (R.D.)
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12
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Powell J, Talenti A, Fisch A, Hemmink JD, Paxton E, Toye P, Santos I, Ferreira BR, Connelley TK, Morrison LJ, Prendergast JGD. Profiling the immune epigenome across global cattle breeds. Genome Biol 2023; 24:127. [PMID: 37218021 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02964-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the variation between well and poorly adapted cattle breeds to local environments and pathogens is essential for breeding cattle with improved climate and disease-resistant phenotypes. Although considerable progress has been made towards identifying genetic differences between breeds, variation at the epigenetic and chromatin levels remains poorly characterized. Here, we generate, sequence and analyse over 150 libraries at base-pair resolution to explore the dynamics of DNA methylation and chromatin accessibility of the bovine immune system across three distinct cattle lineages. RESULTS We find extensive epigenetic divergence between the taurine and indicine cattle breeds across immune cell types, which is linked to the levels of local DNA sequence divergence between the two cattle sub-species. The unique cell type profiles enable the deconvolution of complex cellular mixtures using digital cytometry approaches. Finally, we show distinct sub-categories of CpG islands based on their chromatin and methylation profiles that discriminate between classes of distal and gene proximal islands linked to discrete transcriptional states. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides a comprehensive resource of DNA methylation, chromatin accessibility and RNA expression profiles of three diverse cattle populations. The findings have important implications, from understanding how genetic editing across breeds, and consequently regulatory backgrounds, may have distinct impacts to designing effective cattle epigenome-wide association studies in non-European breeds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Powell
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK.
| | - Andrea Talenti
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Andressa Fisch
- Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Johanneke D Hemmink
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK
- The International Livestock Research Institute, PO Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya
| | - Edith Paxton
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Philip Toye
- The International Livestock Research Institute, PO Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, ILRI Kenya, PO Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya
| | - Isabel Santos
- Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Beatriz R Ferreira
- Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Tim K Connelley
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Liam J Morrison
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK.
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK.
| | - James G D Prendergast
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK.
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus, Edinburgh, EH25 9RG, UK.
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13
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Kaplow IM, Lawler AJ, Schäffer DE, Srinivasan C, Sestili HH, Wirthlin ME, Phan BN, Prasad K, Brown AR, Zhang X, Foley K, Genereux DP, Karlsson EK, Lindblad-Toh K, Meyer WK, Pfenning AR, Andrews G, Armstrong JC, Bianchi M, Birren BW, Bredemeyer KR, Breit AM, Christmas MJ, Clawson H, Damas J, Di Palma F, Diekhans M, Dong MX, Eizirik E, Fan K, Fanter C, Foley NM, Forsberg-Nilsson K, Garcia CJ, Gatesy J, Gazal S, Genereux DP, Goodman L, Grimshaw J, Halsey MK, Harris AJ, Hickey G, Hiller M, Hindle AG, Hubley RM, Hughes GM, Johnson J, Juan D, Kaplow IM, Karlsson EK, Keough KC, Kirilenko B, Koepfli KP, Korstian JM, Kowalczyk A, Kozyrev SV, Lawler AJ, Lawless C, Lehmann T, Levesque DL, Lewin HA, Li X, Lind A, Lindblad-Toh K, Mackay-Smith A, Marinescu VD, Marques-Bonet T, Mason VC, Meadows JRS, Meyer WK, Moore JE, Moreira LR, Moreno-Santillan DD, Morrill KM, Muntané G, Murphy WJ, Navarro A, Nweeia M, Ortmann S, Osmanski A, Paten B, Paulat NS, Pfenning AR, Phan BN, Pollard KS, Pratt HE, Ray DA, Reilly SK, Rosen JR, Ruf I, Ryan L, Ryder OA, Sabeti PC, Schäffer DE, Serres A, Shapiro B, Smit AFA, Springer M, Srinivasan C, Steiner C, Storer JM, Sullivan KAM, Sullivan PF, Sundström E, Supple MA, Swofford R, Talbot JE, Teeling E, Turner-Maier J, Valenzuela A, Wagner F, Wallerman O, Wang C, Wang J, Weng Z, Wilder AP, Wirthlin ME, Xue JR, Zhang X. Relating enhancer genetic variation across mammals to complex phenotypes using machine learning. Science 2023; 380:eabm7993. [PMID: 37104615 DOI: 10.1126/science.abm7993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Protein-coding differences between species often fail to explain phenotypic diversity, suggesting the involvement of genomic elements that regulate gene expression such as enhancers. Identifying associations between enhancers and phenotypes is challenging because enhancer activity can be tissue-dependent and functionally conserved despite low sequence conservation. We developed the Tissue-Aware Conservation Inference Toolkit (TACIT) to associate candidate enhancers with species' phenotypes using predictions from machine learning models trained on specific tissues. Applying TACIT to associate motor cortex and parvalbumin-positive interneuron enhancers with neurological phenotypes revealed dozens of enhancer-phenotype associations, including brain size-associated enhancers that interact with genes implicated in microcephaly or macrocephaly. TACIT provides a foundation for identifying enhancers associated with the evolution of any convergently evolved phenotype in any large group of species with aligned genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene M Kaplow
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Alyssa J Lawler
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Department of Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Daniel E Schäffer
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Chaitanya Srinivasan
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Heather H Sestili
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Morgan E Wirthlin
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - BaDoi N Phan
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Kavya Prasad
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Ashley R Brown
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Xiaomeng Zhang
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Kathleen Foley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
| | - Diane P Genereux
- Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Elinor K Karlsson
- Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Kerstin Lindblad-Toh
- Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Wynn K Meyer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA
| | - Andreas R Pfenning
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Department of Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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14
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Peng S, Dahlgren AR, Donnelly CG, Hales EN, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Kalbfleisch T, Finno CJ. Functional annotation of the animal genomes: An integrated annotation resource for the horse. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010468. [PMID: 36862752 PMCID: PMC10013926 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The genomic sequence of the horse has been available since 2009, providing critical resources for discovering important genomic variants regarding both animal health and population structures. However, to fully understand the functional implications of these variants, detailed annotation of the horse genome is required. Due to the limited availability of functional data for the equine genome, as well as the technical limitations of short-read RNA-seq, existing annotation of the equine genome contains limited information about important aspects of gene regulation, such as alternate isoforms and regulatory elements, which are either not transcribed or transcribed at a very low level. To solve above problems, the Functional Annotation of the Animal Genomes (FAANG) project proposed a systemic approach to tissue collection, phenotyping, and data generation, adopting the blueprint laid out by the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project. Here we detail the first comprehensive overview of gene expression and regulation in the horse, presenting 39,625 novel transcripts, 84,613 candidate cis-regulatory elements (CRE) and their target genes, 332,115 open chromatin regions genome wide across a diverse set of tissues. We showed substantial concordance between chromatin accessibility, chromatin states in different genic features and gene expression. This comprehensive and expanded set of genomics resources will provide the equine research community ample opportunities for studies of complex traits in the horse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sichong Peng
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Anna R. Dahlgren
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Callum G. Donnelly
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Erin N. Hales
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Jessica L. Petersen
- Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America
| | - Rebecca R. Bellone
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
- Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Ted Kalbfleisch
- Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States of America
| | - Carrie J. Finno
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
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15
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Zhu XN, Wang YZ, Li C, Wu HY, Zhang R, Hu XX, Zhang R, Hu XX. Chicken chromatin accessibility atlas accelerates epigenetic annotation of birds and gene fine-mapping associated with growth traits. Zool Res 2023; 44:53-62. [PMID: 36317479 PMCID: PMC9841184 DOI: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2022.228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of epigenetic maps, such as the ENCODE project in humans, provides resources for gene regulation studies and a reference for research of disease-related regulatory elements. However, epigenetic information, such as a bird-specific chromatin accessibility atlas, is currently lacking for the thousands of bird species currently described. The major genomic difference between birds and mammals is their shorter introns and intergenic distances, which seriously hinders the use of humans and mice as a reference for studying the function of important regulatory regions in birds. In this study, using chicken as a model bird species, we systematically compiled a chicken chromatin accessibility atlas using 53 Assay of Transposase Accessible Chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) samples across 11 tissues. An average of 50 796 open chromatin regions were identified per sample, cumulatively accounting for 20.36% of the chicken genome. Tissue specificity was largely reflected by differences in intergenic and intronic peaks, with specific functional regulation achieved by two mechanisms: recruitment of several sequence-specific transcription factors and direct regulation of adjacent functional genes. By integrating data from genome-wide association studies, our results suggest that chicken body weight is driven by different regulatory variants active in growth-relevant tissues. We propose CAB39L (active in the duodenum), RCBTB1 (muscle and liver), and novel long non-coding RNA ENSGALG00000053256 (bone) as candidate genes regulating chicken body weight. Overall, this study demonstrates the value of epigenetic data in fine-mapping functional variants and provides a compendium of resources for further research on the epigenetics and evolution of birds and mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Ning Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Yu-Zhe Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China,National Research Facility for Phenotypic and Genotypic Analysis of Model Animals (Beijing), China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China,E-mail:
| | - Chong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Han-Yu Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China,National Research Facility for Phenotypic and Genotypic Analysis of Model Animals (Beijing), China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Ran Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Xiao-Xiang Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China,National Research Facility for Phenotypic and Genotypic Analysis of Model Animals (Beijing), China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China,
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16
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Boschiero C, Gao Y, Baldwin RL, Ma L, Li CJ, Liu GE. Butyrate Induces Modifications of the CTCF-Binding Landscape in Cattle Cells. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12091177. [PMID: 36139015 PMCID: PMC9496099 DOI: 10.3390/biom12091177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Butyrate is produced in the rumen from microbial fermentation and is related to several functions, including cell differentiation and proliferation. Butyrate supplementation in calves can accelerate rumen development. DNA-protein interactions, such as the CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), play essential roles in chromatin organization and gene expression regulation. Although CTCF-binding sites have been identified recently in cattle, a deeper characterization, including differentially CTCF-binding sites (DCBS), is vital for a better understanding of butyrate’s role in the chromatin landscape. This study aimed to identify CTCF-binding regions and DCBS under a butyrate-induced condition using ChIP-seq in bovine cells; 61,915 CTCF peaks were identified in the butyrate and 51,347 in the control. From these regions, 2265 DCBS were obtained for the butyrate vs. control comparison, comprising ~90% of induced sites. Most of the butyrate DCBS were in distal intergenic regions, showing a potential role as insulators. Gene ontology enrichment showed crucial terms for the induced DCBS, mainly related to cellular proliferation, cell adhesion, and growth regulation. Interestingly, the ECM-receptor interaction pathway was observed for the induced DCBS. Motif enrichment analysis further identified transcription factors, including CTCF, BORIS, TGIF2, and ZIC3. When DCBS was integrated with RNA-seq data, putative genes were identified for the repressed DCBS, including GATA4. Our study revealed promising candidate genes in bovine cells by a butyrate-induced condition that might be related to the regulation of rumen development, such as integrins, keratins, and collagens. These results provide a better understanding of the function of butyrate in cattle rumen development and chromatin landscape regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clarissa Boschiero
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Yahui Gao
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Ransom L. Baldwin
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Li Ma
- Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Cong-jun Li
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Correspondence: (C.-j.L.); (G.E.L.); Tel.: +1-301-504-7216 (C.-j.L.); +1-301-504-9843 (G.E.L.); Fax: +1-301-504-8414 (C.-j.L. & G.E.L.)
| | - George E. Liu
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Correspondence: (C.-j.L.); (G.E.L.); Tel.: +1-301-504-7216 (C.-j.L.); +1-301-504-9843 (G.E.L.); Fax: +1-301-504-8414 (C.-j.L. & G.E.L.)
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17
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Boschiero C, Gao Y, Baldwin RL, Ma L, Li CJ, Liu GE. Differentially CTCF-Binding Sites in Cattle Rumen Tissue during Weaning. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23169070. [PMID: 36012336 PMCID: PMC9408924 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23169070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The weaning transition in calves is characterized by major structural changes such as an increase in the rumen capacity and surface area due to diet changes. Studies evaluating rumen development in calves are vital to identify genetic mechanisms affected by weaning. This study aimed to provide a genome-wide characterization of CTCF-binding sites and differentially CTCF-binding sites (DCBS) in rumen tissue during the weaning transition of four Holstein calves to uncover regulatory elements in rumen epithelial tissue using ChIP-seq. Our study generated 67,280 CTCF peaks for the before weaning (BW) and 39,891 for after weaning (AW). Then, 7401 DCBS were identified for the AW vs. BW comparison representing 0.15% of the cattle genome, comprising ~54% of induced DCBS and ~46% of repressed DCBS. Most of the induced and repressed DCBS were in distal intergenic regions, showing a potential role as insulators. Gene ontology enrichment revealed many shared GO terms for the induced and the repressed DCBS, mainly related to cellular migration, proliferation, growth, differentiation, cellular adhesion, digestive tract morphogenesis, and response to TGFβ. In addition, shared KEGG pathways were obtained for adherens junction and focal adhesion. Interestingly, other relevant KEGG pathways were observed for the induced DCBS like gastric acid secretion, salivary secretion, bacterial invasion of epithelial cells, apelin signaling, and mucin-type O-glycan biosynthesis. IPA analysis further revealed pathways with potential roles in rumen development during weaning, including TGFβ, Integrin-linked kinase, and Integrin signaling. When DCBS were further integrated with RNA-seq data, 36 putative target genes were identified for the repressed DCBS, including KRT84, COL9A2, MATN3, TSPAN1, and AJM1. This study successfully identified DCBS in cattle rumen tissue after weaning on a genome-wide scale and revealed several candidate target genes that may have a role in rumen development, such as TGFβ, integrins, keratins, and SMADs. The information generated in this preliminary study provides new insights into bovine genome regulation and chromatin landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clarissa Boschiero
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Yahui Gao
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Ransom L. Baldwin
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Li Ma
- Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Cong-jun Li
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Correspondence: (C.-j.L.); (G.E.L.); Tel.: +1-301-504-7216 (C.-j.L.); +1-301-504-9843 (G.E.L.); Fax: +1-301-504-8414 (C.-j.L. & G.E.L.)
| | - George E. Liu
- Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Correspondence: (C.-j.L.); (G.E.L.); Tel.: +1-301-504-7216 (C.-j.L.); +1-301-504-9843 (G.E.L.); Fax: +1-301-504-8414 (C.-j.L. & G.E.L.)
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18
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Kaplow IM, Schäffer DE, Wirthlin ME, Lawler AJ, Brown AR, Kleyman M, Pfenning AR. Inferring mammalian tissue-specific regulatory conservation by predicting tissue-specific differences in open chromatin. BMC Genomics 2022; 23:291. [PMID: 35410163 PMCID: PMC8996547 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08450-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Evolutionary conservation is an invaluable tool for inferring functional significance in the genome, including regions that are crucial across many species and those that have undergone convergent evolution. Computational methods to test for sequence conservation are dominated by algorithms that examine the ability of one or more nucleotides to align across large evolutionary distances. While these nucleotide alignment-based approaches have proven powerful for protein-coding genes and some non-coding elements, they fail to capture conservation of many enhancers, distal regulatory elements that control spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression. The function of enhancers is governed by a complex, often tissue- and cell type-specific code that links combinations of transcription factor binding sites and other regulation-related sequence patterns to regulatory activity. Thus, function of orthologous enhancer regions can be conserved across large evolutionary distances, even when nucleotide turnover is high. RESULTS We present a new machine learning-based approach for evaluating enhancer conservation that leverages the combinatorial sequence code of enhancer activity rather than relying on the alignment of individual nucleotides. We first train a convolutional neural network model that can predict tissue-specific open chromatin, a proxy for enhancer activity, across mammals. Next, we apply that model to distinguish instances where the genome sequence would predict conserved function versus a loss of regulatory activity in that tissue. We present criteria for systematically evaluating model performance for this task and use them to demonstrate that our models accurately predict tissue-specific conservation and divergence in open chromatin between primate and rodent species, vastly out-performing leading nucleotide alignment-based approaches. We then apply our models to predict open chromatin at orthologs of brain and liver open chromatin regions across hundreds of mammals and find that brain enhancers associated with neuron activity have a stronger tendency than the general population to have predicted lineage-specific open chromatin. CONCLUSION The framework presented here provides a mechanism to annotate tissue-specific regulatory function across hundreds of genomes and to study enhancer evolution using predicted regulatory differences rather than nucleotide-level conservation measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene M Kaplow
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. .,Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
| | - Daniel E Schäffer
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Morgan E Wirthlin
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.,Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Alyssa J Lawler
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.,Department of Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Ashley R Brown
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.,Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Michael Kleyman
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.,Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Andreas R Pfenning
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. .,Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. .,Department of Biology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
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19
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Characterization of Accessible Chromatin Regions in Cattle Rumen Epithelial Tissue during Weaning. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13030535. [PMID: 35328088 PMCID: PMC8949786 DOI: 10.3390/genes13030535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Revised: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Weaning in ruminants is characterized by the transition from a milk-based diet to a solid diet, which drives a critical gastrointestinal tract transformation. Understanding the regulatory control of this transformation during weaning can help to identify strategies to improve rumen health. This study aimed to identify regions of accessible chromatin in rumen epithelial tissue in pre- and post-weaning calves and investigate differentially accessible regions (DARs) to uncover regulatory elements in cattle rumen development using the ATAC-seq approach. A total of 126,071 peaks were identified, covering 1.15% of the cattle genome. From these accessible regions, 2766 DARs were discovered. Gene ontology enrichment resulted in GO terms related to the cell adhesion, anchoring junction, growth, cell migration, motility, and morphogenesis. In addition, putative regulatory canonical pathways were identified (TGFβ, integrin-linked kinase, integrin signaling, and regulation of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition). Canonical pathways integrated with co-expression results showed that TGFβ and ILK signaling pathways play essential roles in rumen development through the regulation of cellular adhesions. In this study, DARs during weaning were identified, revealing enhancers, transcription factors, and candidate target genes that represent potential biomarkers for the bovine rumen development, which will serve as a molecular tool for rumen development studies.
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20
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Salavati M, Woolley SA, Cortés Araya Y, Halstead MM, Stenhouse C, Johnsson M, Ashworth CJ, Archibald AL, Donadeu FX, Hassan MA, Clark EL. Profiling of open chromatin in developing pig (Sus scrofa) muscle to identify regulatory regions. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2022; 12:6460335. [PMID: 34897420 PMCID: PMC9210303 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
There is very little information about how the genome is regulated in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). This lack of knowledge hinders efforts to define and predict the effects of genetic variants in pig breeding programs. To address this knowledge gap, we need to identify regulatory sequences in the pig genome starting with regions of open chromatin. We used the "Improved Protocol for the Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin (Omni-ATAC-Seq)" to identify putative regulatory regions in flash-frozen semitendinosus muscle from 24 male piglets. We collected samples from the smallest-, average-, and largest-sized male piglets from each litter through five developmental time points. Of the 4661 ATAC-Seq peaks identified that represent regions of open chromatin, >50% were within 1 kb of known transcription start sites. Differential read count analysis revealed 377 ATAC-Seq defined genomic regions where chromatin accessibility differed significantly across developmental time points. We found regions of open chromatin associated with downregulation of genes involved in muscle development that were present in small-sized fetal piglets but absent in large-sized fetal piglets at day 90 of gestation. The dataset that we have generated provides a resource for studies of genome regulation in pigs and contributes valuable functional annotation information to filter genetic variants for use in genomic selection in pig breeding programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mazdak Salavati
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Shernae A Woolley
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Yennifer Cortés Araya
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Michelle M Halstead
- Department of Animal Science, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Claire Stenhouse
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | - Martin Johnsson
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala 750 07, Sweden
| | - Cheryl J Ashworth
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Alan L Archibald
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Francesc X Donadeu
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Musa A Hassan
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Emily L Clark
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
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21
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Peng S, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Kalbfleisch T, Kingsley NB, Barber AM, Cappelletti E, Giulotto E, Finno CJ. Decoding the Equine Genome: Lessons from ENCODE. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12111707. [PMID: 34828313 PMCID: PMC8625040 DOI: 10.3390/genes12111707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The horse reference genome assemblies, EquCab2.0 and EquCab3.0, have enabled great advancements in the equine genomics field, from tools to novel discoveries. However, significant gaps of knowledge regarding genome function remain, hindering the study of complex traits in horses. In an effort to address these gaps and with inspiration from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, the equine Functional Annotation of Animal Genome (FAANG) initiative was proposed to bridge the gap between genome and gene expression, providing further insights into functional regulation within the horse genome. Three years after launching the initiative, the equine FAANG group has generated data from more than 400 experiments using over 50 tissues, targeting a variety of regulatory features of the equine genome. In this review, we examine how valuable lessons learned from the ENCODE project informed our decisions in the equine FAANG project. We report the current state of the equine FAANG project and discuss how FAANG can serve as a template for future expansion of functional annotation in the equine genome and be used as a reference for studies of complex traits in horse. A well-annotated reference functional atlas will also help advance equine genetics in the pan-genome and precision medicine era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sichong Peng
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; (S.P.); (R.R.B.); (N.B.K.)
| | - Jessica L. Petersen
- Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0908, USA; (J.L.P.); (A.M.B.)
| | - Rebecca R. Bellone
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; (S.P.); (R.R.B.); (N.B.K.)
- Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Ted Kalbfleisch
- Department of Veterinary Science, Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40503, USA;
| | - N. B. Kingsley
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; (S.P.); (R.R.B.); (N.B.K.)
- Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Alexa M. Barber
- Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0908, USA; (J.L.P.); (A.M.B.)
| | - Eleonora Cappelletti
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology “L. Spallanzani”, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (E.C.); (E.G.)
| | - Elena Giulotto
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology “L. Spallanzani”, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy; (E.C.); (E.G.)
| | - Carrie J. Finno
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; (S.P.); (R.R.B.); (N.B.K.)
- Correspondence:
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22
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Pan Z, Yao Y, Yin H, Cai Z, Wang Y, Bai L, Kern C, Halstead M, Chanthavixay G, Trakooljul N, Wimmers K, Sahana G, Su G, Lund MS, Fredholm M, Karlskov-Mortensen P, Ernst CW, Ross P, Tuggle CK, Fang L, Zhou H. Pig genome functional annotation enhances the biological interpretation of complex traits and human disease. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5848. [PMID: 34615879 PMCID: PMC8494738 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26153-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The functional annotation of livestock genomes is crucial for understanding the molecular mechanisms that underpin complex traits of economic importance, adaptive evolution and comparative genomics. Here, we provide the most comprehensive catalogue to date of regulatory elements in the pig (Sus scrofa) by integrating 223 epigenomic and transcriptomic data sets, representing 14 biologically important tissues. We systematically describe the dynamic epigenetic landscape across tissues by functionally annotating 15 different chromatin states and defining their tissue-specific regulatory activities. We demonstrate that genomic variants associated with complex traits and adaptive evolution in pig are significantly enriched in active promoters and enhancers. Furthermore, we reveal distinct tissue-specific regulatory selection between Asian and European pig domestication processes. Compared with human and mouse epigenomes, we show that porcine regulatory elements are more conserved in DNA sequence, under both rapid and slow evolution, than those under neutral evolution across pig, mouse, and human. Finally, we provide biological insights on tissue-specific regulatory conservation, and by integrating 47 human genome-wide association studies, we demonstrate that, depending on the traits, mouse or pig might be more appropriate biomedical models for different complex traits and diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhangyuan Pan
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Yuelin Yao
- MRC Human Genetics Unit at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Hongwei Yin
- Agricultural Genome Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 518120, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zexi Cai
- Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Tjele, 8300, Denmark
| | - Ying Wang
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Lijing Bai
- Agricultural Genome Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 518120, Shenzhen, China
| | - Colin Kern
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Michelle Halstead
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ganrea Chanthavixay
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Klaus Wimmers
- Leibniz-Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Dummerstorf, Germany
| | - Goutam Sahana
- Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Tjele, 8300, Denmark
| | - Guosheng Su
- Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Tjele, 8300, Denmark
| | - Mogens Sandø Lund
- Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Tjele, 8300, Denmark
| | - Merete Fredholm
- Animal Genetics, Bioinformatics and Breeding, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederikgsberg C, 1870, Denmark
| | - Peter Karlskov-Mortensen
- Animal Genetics, Bioinformatics and Breeding, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederikgsberg C, 1870, Denmark
| | - Catherine W Ernst
- Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Pablo Ross
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Lingzhao Fang
- MRC Human Genetics Unit at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU, UK.
| | - Huaijun Zhou
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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23
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Alexandre PA, Naval-Sánchez M, Menzies M, Nguyen LT, Porto-Neto LR, Fortes MRS, Reverter A. Chromatin accessibility and regulatory vocabulary across indicine cattle tissues. Genome Biol 2021; 22:273. [PMID: 34548076 PMCID: PMC8454054 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02489-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Spatiotemporal changes in the chromatin accessibility landscape are essential to cell differentiation, development, health, and disease. The quest of identifying regulatory elements in open chromatin regions across different tissues and developmental stages is led by large international collaborative efforts mostly focusing on model organisms, such as ENCODE. Recently, the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) has been established to unravel the regulatory elements in non-model organisms, including cattle. Now, we can transition from prediction to validation by experimentally identifying the regulatory elements in tropical indicine cattle. The identification of regulatory elements, their annotation and comparison with the taurine counterpart, holds high promise to link regulatory regions to adaptability traits and improve animal productivity and welfare. RESULTS We generate open chromatin profiles for liver, muscle, and hypothalamus of indicine cattle through ATAC-seq. Using robust methods for motif discovery, motif enrichment and transcription factor binding sites, we identify potential master regulators of the epigenomic profile in these three tissues, namely HNF4, MEF2, and SOX factors, respectively. Integration with transcriptomic data allows us to confirm some of their target genes. Finally, by comparing our results with Bos taurus data we identify potential indicine-specific open chromatin regions and overlaps with indicine selective sweeps. CONCLUSIONS Our findings provide insights into the identification and analysis of regulatory elements in non-model organisms, the evolution of regulatory elements within two cattle subspecies as well as having an immediate impact on the animal genetics community in particular for a relevant productive species such as tropical cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pâmela A Alexandre
- CSIRO Agriculture & Food, 306 Carmody Rd., QLD, 4067, Brisbane, Australia.
| | - Marina Naval-Sánchez
- CSIRO Agriculture & Food, 306 Carmody Rd., QLD, 4067, Brisbane, Australia
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Moira Menzies
- CSIRO Agriculture & Food, 306 Carmody Rd., QLD, 4067, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Loan T Nguyen
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | | | - Marina R S Fortes
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Antonio Reverter
- CSIRO Agriculture & Food, 306 Carmody Rd., QLD, 4067, Brisbane, Australia
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24
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MacPhillamy C, Pitchford WS, Alinejad-Rokny H, Low WY. Opportunity to improve livestock traits using 3D genomics. Anim Genet 2021; 52:785-798. [PMID: 34494283 DOI: 10.1111/age.13135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The advent of high-throughput chromosome conformation capture and sequencing (Hi-C) has enabled researchers to probe the 3D architecture of the mammalian genome in a genome-wide manner. Simultaneously, advances in epigenomic assays, such as chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) and DNase-seq, have enabled researchers to study cis-regulatory interactions and chromatin accessibility across the same genome-wide scale. The use of these data has revealed many unique insights into gene regulation and disease pathomechanisms in several model organisms. With the advent of these high-throughput sequencing technologies, there has been an ever-increasing number of datasets available for study; however, this is often limited to model organisms. Livestock species play critical roles in the economies of developing and developed nations alike. Despite this, they are greatly underrepresented in the 3D genomics space; Hi-C and related technologies have the potential to revolutionise livestock breeding by enabling a more comprehensive understanding of how production traits are controlled. The growth in human and model organism Hi-C data has seen a surge in the availability of computational tools for use in 3D genomics, with some tools using machine learning techniques to predict features and improve dataset quality. In this review, we provide an overview of the 3D genome and discuss the status of 3D genomics in livestock before delving into advancing the field by drawing inspiration from research in human and mouse. We end by offering future directions for livestock research in the field of 3D genomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- C MacPhillamy
- Davies Livestock Research Centre, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Mudla Wirra Rd, Roseworthy, SA, 5371, Australia
| | - W S Pitchford
- Davies Livestock Research Centre, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Mudla Wirra Rd, Roseworthy, SA, 5371, Australia
| | - H Alinejad-Rokny
- Biological & Medical Machine Learning Lab, The Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.,School of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - W Y Low
- Davies Livestock Research Centre, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Mudla Wirra Rd, Roseworthy, SA, 5371, Australia
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25
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Johnsson M, Jungnickel MK. Evidence for and localization of proposed causative variants in cattle and pig genomes. Genet Sel Evol 2021; 53:67. [PMID: 34461824 PMCID: PMC8404348 DOI: 10.1186/s12711-021-00662-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND This paper reviews the localization of published potential causative variants in contemporary pig and cattle reference genomes, and the evidence for their causality. In spite of the difficulties inherent to the identification of causative variants from genetic mapping and genome-wide association studies, researchers in animal genetics have proposed putative causative variants for several traits relevant to livestock breeding. RESULTS For this review, we read the literature that supports potential causative variants in 13 genes (ABCG2, DGAT1, GHR, IGF2, MC4R, MSTN, NR6A1, PHGK1, PRKAG3, PLRL, RYR1, SYNGR2 and VRTN) in cattle and pigs, and localized them in contemporary reference genomes. We review the evidence for their causality, by aiming to separate the evidence for the locus, the proposed causative gene and the proposed causative variant, and report the bioinformatic searches and tactics needed to localize the sequence variants in the cattle or pig genome. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, there is usually good evidence for the association at the locus level, some evidence for a specific causative gene at eight of the loci, and some experimental evidence for a specific causative variant at six of the loci. We recommend that researchers who report new potential causative variants use referenced coordinate systems, show local sequence context, and submit variants to repositories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Johnsson
- Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Melissa K. Jungnickel
- The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH25 9RG Scotland, UK
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26
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Tixier-Boichard M, Fabre S, Dhorne-Pollet S, Goubil A, Acloque H, Vincent-Naulleau S, Ross P, Wang Y, Chanthavixay G, Cheng H, Ernst C, Leesburg V, Giuffra E, Zhou H. Tissue Resources for the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes. Front Genet 2021; 12:666265. [PMID: 34234809 PMCID: PMC8256271 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.666265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to generate an atlas of the functional elements driving genome expression in domestic animals, the Functional Annotation of Animal Genome (FAANG) strategy was to sample many tissues from a few animals of different species, sexes, ages, and production stages. This article presents the collection of tissue samples for four species produced by two pilot projects, at INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) and the University of California, Davis. There were three mammals (cattle, goat, and pig) and one bird (chicken). It describes the metadata characterizing these reference sets (1) for animals with origin and selection history, physiological status, and environmental conditions; (2) for samples with collection site and tissue/cell processing; (3) for quality control; and (4) for storage and further distribution. Three sets are identified: set 1 comprises tissues for which collection can be standardized and for which representative aliquots can be easily distributed (liver, spleen, lung, heart, fat depot, skin, muscle, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells); set 2 comprises tissues requiring special protocols because of their cellular heterogeneity (brain, digestive tract, secretory organs, gonads and gametes, reproductive tract, immune tissues, cartilage); set 3 comprises specific cell preparations (immune cells, tracheal epithelial cells). Dedicated sampling protocols were established and uploaded in https://data.faang.org/protocol/samples. Specificities between mammals and chicken are described when relevant. A total of 73 different tissues or tissue sections were collected, and 21 are common to the four species. Having a common set of tissues will facilitate the transfer of knowledge within and between species and will contribute to decrease animal experimentation. Combining data on the same samples will facilitate data integration. Quality control was performed on some tissues with RNA extraction and RNA quality control. More than 5,000 samples have been stored with unique identifiers, and more than 4,000 were uploaded onto the Biosamples database, provided that standard ontologies were available to describe the sample. Many tissues have already been used to implement FAANG assays, with published results. All samples are available without restriction for further assays. The requesting procedure is described. Members of FAANG are encouraged to apply a range of molecular assays to characterize the functional status of collected samples and share their results, in line with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Adeline Goubil
- University Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Hervé Acloque
- University Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | | | - Pablo Ross
- UC Davis Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Ying Wang
- UC Davis Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Ganrea Chanthavixay
- UC Davis Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Hans Cheng
- USDA-ARS Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Catherine Ernst
- Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Vicki Leesburg
- USDA-ARS, Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, Miles City, MT, United States
| | - Elisabetta Giuffra
- University Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Huaijun Zhou
- UC Davis Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
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27
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Peng S, Bellone R, Petersen JL, Kalbfleisch TS, Finno CJ. Successful ATAC-Seq From Snap-Frozen Equine Tissues. Front Genet 2021; 12:641788. [PMID: 34220931 PMCID: PMC8242358 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.641788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
An assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) has become an increasingly popular method to assess genome-wide chromatin accessibility in isolated nuclei from fresh tissues. However, many biobanks contain only snap-frozen tissue samples. While ATAC-seq has been applied to frozen brain tissues in human, its applicability in a wide variety of tissues in horse remains unclear. The Functional Annotation of Animal Genome (FAANG) project is an international collaboration aimed to provide high quality functional annotation of animal genomes. The equine FAANG initiative has generated a biobank of over 80 tissues from two reference female animals and experiments to begin to characterize tissue specificity of genome function for prioritized tissues have been performed. Due to the logistics of tissue collection and storage, extracting nuclei from a large number of tissues for ATAC-seq at the time of collection is not always practical. To assess the feasibility of using stored frozen tissues for ATAC-seq and to provide a guideline for the equine FAANG project, we compared ATAC-seq results from nuclei isolated from frozen tissue to cryopreserved nuclei (CN) isolated at the time of tissue harvest in liver, a highly cellular homogenous tissue, and lamina, a relatively acellular tissue unique to the horse. We identified 20,000-33,000 accessible chromatin regions in lamina and 22-61,000 in liver, with consistently more peaks identified using CN isolated at time of tissue collection. Our results suggest that frozen tissues are an acceptable substitute when CN are not available. For more challenging tissues such as lamina, nuclei extraction at the time of tissue collection is still preferred for optimal results. Therefore, tissue type and accessibility to intact nuclei should be considered when designing ATAC-seq experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sichong Peng
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Rebecca Bellone
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Jessica L. Petersen
- Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Theodore S. Kalbfleisch
- Department of Veterinary Science, Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Carrie J. Finno
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
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28
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Yue J, Hou X, Liu X, Wang L, Gao H, Zhao F, Shi L, Shi L, Yan H, Deng T, Gong J, Wang L, Zhang L. The landscape of chromatin accessibility in skeletal muscle during embryonic development in pigs. J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2021; 12:56. [PMID: 33934724 PMCID: PMC8091695 DOI: 10.1186/s40104-021-00577-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The development of skeletal muscle in pigs during the embryonic stage is precisely regulated by transcriptional mechanisms, which depend on chromatin accessibility. However, how chromatin accessibility plays a regulatory role during embryonic skeletal muscle development in pigs has not been reported. To gain insight into the landscape of chromatin accessibility and the associated genome-wide transcriptome during embryonic muscle development, we performed ATAC-seq and RNA-seq analyses of skeletal muscle from pig embryos at 45, 70 and 100 days post coitus (dpc). RESULTS In total, 21,638, 35,447 and 60,181 unique regions (or peaks) were found across the embryos at 45 dpc (LW45), 70 dpc (LW70) and 100 dpc (LW100), respectively. More than 91% of the peaks were annotated within - 1 kb to 100 bp of transcription start sites (TSSs). First, widespread increases in specific accessible chromatin regions (ACRs) from embryos at 45 to 100 dpc suggested that the regulatory mechanisms became increasingly complicated during embryonic development. Second, the findings from integrated ATAC-seq and RNA-seq analyses showed that not only the numbers but also the intensities of ACRs could control the expression of associated genes. Moreover, the motif screening of stage-specific ACRs revealed some transcription factors that regulate muscle development-related genes, such as MyoG, Mef2c, and Mef2d. Several potential transcriptional repressors, including E2F6, OTX2 and CTCF, were identified among the genes that exhibited different regulation trends between the ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data. CONCLUSIONS This work indicates that chromatin accessibility plays an important regulatory role in the embryonic muscle development of pigs and regulates the temporal and spatial expression patterns of key genes in muscle development by influencing the binding of transcription factors. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the regulatory dynamics of genes involved in pig embryonic skeletal muscle development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingwei Yue
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Xinhua Hou
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Xin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Ligang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Hongmei Gao
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Fuping Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Lijun Shi
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Liangyu Shi
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Hua Yan
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Tianyu Deng
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Jianfei Gong
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Lixian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
| | - Longchao Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal (Poultry) Genetics Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture; Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
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29
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Kern C, Wang Y, Xu X, Pan Z, Halstead M, Chanthavixay G, Saelao P, Waters S, Xiang R, Chamberlain A, Korf I, Delany ME, Cheng HH, Medrano JF, Van Eenennaam AL, Tuggle CK, Ernst C, Flicek P, Quon G, Ross P, Zhou H. Functional annotations of three domestic animal genomes provide vital resources for comparative and agricultural research. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1821. [PMID: 33758196 PMCID: PMC7988148 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22100-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Gene regulatory elements are central drivers of phenotypic variation and thus of critical importance towards understanding the genetics of complex traits. The Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes consortium was formed to collaboratively annotate the functional elements in animal genomes, starting with domesticated animals. Here we present an expansive collection of datasets from eight diverse tissues in three important agricultural species: chicken (Gallus gallus), pig (Sus scrofa), and cattle (Bos taurus). Comparative analysis of these datasets and those from the human and mouse Encyclopedia of DNA Elements projects reveal that a core set of regulatory elements are functionally conserved independent of divergence between species, and that tissue-specific transcription factor occupancy at regulatory elements and their predicted target genes are also conserved. These datasets represent a unique opportunity for the emerging field of comparative epigenomics, as well as the agricultural research community, including species that are globally important food resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Kern
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ying Wang
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Xiaoqin Xu
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Zhangyuan Pan
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Michelle Halstead
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ganrea Chanthavixay
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Perot Saelao
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Susan Waters
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ruidong Xiang
- Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
| | - Amanda Chamberlain
- Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
| | - Ian Korf
- Genome Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Mary E Delany
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Hans H Cheng
- USDA-ARS, Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Juan F Medrano
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Chris K Tuggle
- Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
| | - Catherine Ernst
- Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Paul Flicek
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK
| | - Gerald Quon
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, David, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Pablo Ross
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - Huaijun Zhou
- Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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30
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Wang M, Ibeagha-Awemu EM. Impacts of Epigenetic Processes on the Health and Productivity of Livestock. Front Genet 2021; 11:613636. [PMID: 33708235 PMCID: PMC7942785 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.613636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The dynamic changes in the epigenome resulting from the intricate interactions of genetic and environmental factors play crucial roles in individual growth and development. Numerous studies in plants, rodents, and humans have provided evidence of the regulatory roles of epigenetic processes in health and disease. There is increasing pressure to increase livestock production in light of increasing food needs of an expanding human population and environment challenges, but there is limited related epigenetic data on livestock to complement genomic information and support advances in improvement breeding and health management. This review examines the recent discoveries on epigenetic processes due to DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin remodeling and their impacts on health and production traits in farm animals, including bovine, swine, sheep, goat, and poultry species. Most of the reports focused on epigenome profiling at the genome-wide or specific genic regions in response to developmental processes, environmental stressors, nutrition, and disease pathogens. The bulk of available data mainly characterized the epigenetic markers in tissues/organs or in relation to traits and detection of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms underlying livestock phenotype diversity. However, available data is inadequate to support gainful exploitation of epigenetic processes for improved animal health and productivity management. Increased research effort, which is vital to elucidate how epigenetic mechanisms affect the health and productivity of livestock, is currently limited due to several factors including lack of adequate analytical tools. In this review, we (1) summarize available evidence of the impacts of epigenetic processes on livestock production and health traits, (2) discuss the application of epigenetics data in livestock production, and (3) present gaps in livestock epigenetics research. Knowledge of the epigenetic factors influencing livestock health and productivity is vital for the management and improvement of livestock productivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengqi Wang
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
- Department of Animal Science, Laval University, Quebec, QC, Canada
| | - Eveline M. Ibeagha-Awemu
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
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