Reduced representation bisulphite sequencing of ten bovine somatic tissues reveals DNA methylation patterns and their impacts on gene expression

Background As a major epigenetic component, DNA methylation plays important functions in individual development and various diseases. DNA methylation has been well studied in human and model organisms, but only limited data exist in economically important animals like cattle. Results Using reduced representation bisulphite sequencing (RRBS), we obtained single-base-resolution maps of bovine DNA methylation from ten somatic tissues. In total, we evaluated 1,868,049 cytosines in CG-enriched regions. While we found slightly low methylation levels (29.87 to 38.06 %) in cattle, the methylation contexts (CGs and non-CGs) of cattle showed similar methylation patterns to other species. Non-CG methylation was detected but methylation levels in somatic tissues were significantly lower than in pluripotent cells. To study the potential function of the methylation, we detected 10,794 differentially methylated cytosines (DMCs) and 836 differentially methylated CG islands (DMIs). Further analyses in the same tissues revealed many DMCs (including non-CGs) and DMIs, which were highly correlated with the expression of genes involved in tissue development. Conclusions In summary, our study provides a baseline dataset and essential information for DNA methylation profiles of cattle. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-3116-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.