Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis

Fei Gao; Xiaolei Liu; Xiu-Ping Wu; Xue-Lin Wang; Desheng Gong; Hanlin Lu; Yudong Xia; Yanxia Song; Junwen Wang; Jing Du; Siyang Liu; Xu Han; Yizhi Tang; Huanming Yang; Qi Jin; Xiuqing Zhang; Mingyuan Liu

doi:10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100

Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis

Fei Gao, Xiaolei Liu, Xiu-Ping Wu, Xue-Lin Wang, Desheng Gong, Hanlin Lu, Yudong Xia, Yanxia Song, Junwen Wang, Jing Du, Siyang Liu, Xu Han, Yizhi Tang, Huanming Yang, Qi Jin, Xiuqing Zhang, Mingyuan Liu

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation plays an essential role in regulating gene expression under a variety of conditions and it has therefore been hypothesized to underlie the transitions between life cycle stages in parasitic nematodes. So far, however, 5'-cytosine methylation has not been detected during any developmental stage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Given the new availability of high-resolution methylation detection methods, an investigation of life cycle methylation in a parasitic nematode can now be carried out.

RESULTS: Here, using MethylC-seq, we present the first study to confirm the existence of DNA methylation in the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis, and we characterize the methylomes of the three life-cycle stages of this food-borne infectious human pathogen. We observe a drastic increase in DNA methylation during the transition from the new born to mature stage, and we further identify parasitism-related genes that show changes in DNA methylation status between life cycle stages.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data contribute to the understanding of the developmental changes that occur in an important human parasite, and raises the possibility that targeting DNA methylation processes may be a useful strategy in developing therapeutics to impede infection. In addition, our conclusion that DNA methylation is a mechanism for life cycle transition in T. spiralis prompts the question of whether this may also be the case in any other metazoans. Finally, our work constitutes the first report, to our knowledge, of DNA methylation in a nematode, prompting a re-evaluation of phyla in which this epigenetic mark was thought to be absent.

Original language	English
Article number	R100
Journal	Genome Biology (Online Edition)
Volume	13
Issue number	10
ISSN	1474-7596
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100
Publication status	Published - 2012
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Alternative Splicing
Animals
Base Sequence
Cytosine
DNA
DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase
DNA Methylation
Epigenesis, Genetic
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
Molecular Sequence Data
Muscles
Phylogeny
RNA, Messenger
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Trichinella spiralis

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10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100

Cite this

Gao, F., Liu, X., Wu, X.-P., Wang, X.-L., Gong, D., Lu, H., Xia, Y., Song, Y., Wang, J., Du, J., Liu, S., Han, X., Tang, Y., Yang, H., Jin, Q., Zhang, X., & Liu, M. (2012). Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis. Genome Biology (Online Edition), 13(10), Article R100. https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100

@article{01dab0b8b21d4b2488abf33c1a43ef6e,

title = "Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: DNA methylation plays an essential role in regulating gene expression under a variety of conditions and it has therefore been hypothesized to underlie the transitions between life cycle stages in parasitic nematodes. So far, however, 5'-cytosine methylation has not been detected during any developmental stage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Given the new availability of high-resolution methylation detection methods, an investigation of life cycle methylation in a parasitic nematode can now be carried out.RESULTS: Here, using MethylC-seq, we present the first study to confirm the existence of DNA methylation in the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis, and we characterize the methylomes of the three life-cycle stages of this food-borne infectious human pathogen. We observe a drastic increase in DNA methylation during the transition from the new born to mature stage, and we further identify parasitism-related genes that show changes in DNA methylation status between life cycle stages.CONCLUSIONS: Our data contribute to the understanding of the developmental changes that occur in an important human parasite, and raises the possibility that targeting DNA methylation processes may be a useful strategy in developing therapeutics to impede infection. In addition, our conclusion that DNA methylation is a mechanism for life cycle transition in T. spiralis prompts the question of whether this may also be the case in any other metazoans. Finally, our work constitutes the first report, to our knowledge, of DNA methylation in a nematode, prompting a re-evaluation of phyla in which this epigenetic mark was thought to be absent.",

keywords = "Alternative Splicing, Animals, Base Sequence, Cytosine, DNA, DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase, DNA Methylation, Epigenesis, Genetic, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Molecular Sequence Data, Muscles, Phylogeny, RNA, Messenger, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Trichinella spiralis",

author = "Fei Gao and Xiaolei Liu and Xiu-Ping Wu and Xue-Lin Wang and Desheng Gong and Hanlin Lu and Yudong Xia and Yanxia Song and Junwen Wang and Jing Du and Siyang Liu and Xu Han and Yizhi Tang and Huanming Yang and Qi Jin and Xiuqing Zhang and Mingyuan Liu",

year = "2012",

doi = "10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

journal = "Genome Biology (Online Edition)",

issn = "1474-7596",

publisher = "BioMed Central Ltd.",

number = "10",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis

AU - Gao, Fei

AU - Liu, Xiaolei

AU - Wu, Xiu-Ping

AU - Wang, Xue-Lin

AU - Gong, Desheng

AU - Lu, Hanlin

AU - Xia, Yudong

AU - Song, Yanxia

AU - Wang, Junwen

AU - Du, Jing

AU - Liu, Siyang

AU - Han, Xu

AU - Tang, Yizhi

AU - Yang, Huanming

AU - Jin, Qi

AU - Zhang, Xiuqing

AU - Liu, Mingyuan

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - BACKGROUND: DNA methylation plays an essential role in regulating gene expression under a variety of conditions and it has therefore been hypothesized to underlie the transitions between life cycle stages in parasitic nematodes. So far, however, 5'-cytosine methylation has not been detected during any developmental stage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Given the new availability of high-resolution methylation detection methods, an investigation of life cycle methylation in a parasitic nematode can now be carried out.RESULTS: Here, using MethylC-seq, we present the first study to confirm the existence of DNA methylation in the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis, and we characterize the methylomes of the three life-cycle stages of this food-borne infectious human pathogen. We observe a drastic increase in DNA methylation during the transition from the new born to mature stage, and we further identify parasitism-related genes that show changes in DNA methylation status between life cycle stages.CONCLUSIONS: Our data contribute to the understanding of the developmental changes that occur in an important human parasite, and raises the possibility that targeting DNA methylation processes may be a useful strategy in developing therapeutics to impede infection. In addition, our conclusion that DNA methylation is a mechanism for life cycle transition in T. spiralis prompts the question of whether this may also be the case in any other metazoans. Finally, our work constitutes the first report, to our knowledge, of DNA methylation in a nematode, prompting a re-evaluation of phyla in which this epigenetic mark was thought to be absent.

AB - BACKGROUND: DNA methylation plays an essential role in regulating gene expression under a variety of conditions and it has therefore been hypothesized to underlie the transitions between life cycle stages in parasitic nematodes. So far, however, 5'-cytosine methylation has not been detected during any developmental stage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Given the new availability of high-resolution methylation detection methods, an investigation of life cycle methylation in a parasitic nematode can now be carried out.RESULTS: Here, using MethylC-seq, we present the first study to confirm the existence of DNA methylation in the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis, and we characterize the methylomes of the three life-cycle stages of this food-borne infectious human pathogen. We observe a drastic increase in DNA methylation during the transition from the new born to mature stage, and we further identify parasitism-related genes that show changes in DNA methylation status between life cycle stages.CONCLUSIONS: Our data contribute to the understanding of the developmental changes that occur in an important human parasite, and raises the possibility that targeting DNA methylation processes may be a useful strategy in developing therapeutics to impede infection. In addition, our conclusion that DNA methylation is a mechanism for life cycle transition in T. spiralis prompts the question of whether this may also be the case in any other metazoans. Finally, our work constitutes the first report, to our knowledge, of DNA methylation in a nematode, prompting a re-evaluation of phyla in which this epigenetic mark was thought to be absent.

KW - Alternative Splicing

KW - Animals

KW - Base Sequence

KW - Cytosine

KW - DNA

KW - DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase

KW - DNA Methylation

KW - Epigenesis, Genetic

KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental

KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing

KW - Molecular Sequence Data

KW - Muscles

KW - Phylogeny

KW - RNA, Messenger

KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA

KW - Trichinella spiralis

U2 - 10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100

DO - 10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r100

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 23075480

SN - 1474-7596

VL - 13

JO - Genome Biology (Online Edition)

JF - Genome Biology (Online Edition)

IS - 10

M1 - R100

ER -

Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis

Abstract

Keywords

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