1. Metabolism-associated genome-wide epigenetic changes in bovine oocytes during early lactation.
- Author
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Poirier, Mikhael, Tesfaye, Dawit, Hailay, Tsige, Salilew-Wondim, Dessie, Gebremedhn, Samuel, Rings, Franca, Neuhoff, Christiane, Schellander, Karl, and Hoelker, Michael
- Subjects
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METABOLISM , *GENOMES , *EPIGENETICS , *OVUM , *LACTATION - Abstract
Dietary intake in early lactating cows is outmatched by milk production. These cows experience a negative energy balance, resulting in a distinct blood metabolism and poor reproductive function due to impaired ovulation and increased embryo loss. We hypothesize that oocytes from lactating cows undergoing transient metabolic stress exhibit a different epigenetic profile crucial for developmental competence. To investigate this, we collected oocytes from metabolically-profiled cows at early- and mid-postpartum stages and characterized their epigenetic landscape compared with control heifers using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. Early-postpartum cows were metabolically deficient with a significantly lower energy balance and significantly higher concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids and beta-hydroxybutyrate than mid-postpartum animals and control heifers. Accordingly, 32,990 early-postpartum-specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were found in genes involved in metabolic pathways, carbon metabolism, and fatty acid metabolism, likely descriptive of the epigenetic regulation of metabolism in early-postpartum oocytes. DMRs found overlapping CpG islands and exons of imprinted genes such as MEST and GNAS in early-postpartum oocytes suggest that early lactation metabolic stress may affect imprint acquisition, which could explain the embryo loss. This whole-genome approach introduces potential candidate genes governing the link between metabolic stress and the reproductive outcome of oocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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