2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Epigenomic variation and its relationship with genetic and phenotypic variations in the mouse

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21200037
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research a proposed research project)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	基礎ゲノム科学 Genetics/Genome dynamics
Research Institution	Kyushu University (2010-2011) National Institute of Genetics (2009)
Principal Investigator	ICHIYANAGI Kenji 九州大学, 生体防御医学研究所, 助教 (70401560)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	ゲノム多様性 / ゲノム機能・発現 / エピゲノム多様性
Research Abstract	Phenotypic variations within ａ population of ａ species can lead to speciation. Besides genetic variations, variations of epigenetic regulation, such as DNA methylation and histon post-translational modifications, among the individuals could be a source of such phenotypic variation. In this study, we first established ａ method to collect methylated genomic DNA regions, then utilized ａ next generation sequencer to compare DNA methylation between mouse strains of the identical species but different subspecies, which identified about 1500 and 4000 regions showing difference in DNA methylation levels between the strains in liver and sperm, respectively. Interestingly, about half of the regions identified in liver showed methylation difference in sperm as well. Together with a F1 hybrid analysis, the results suggest that majority of intraspecific epigenetic variations are due to cis-sequences of these regions.

(4 results)