Genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation patterns in horse

Background: DNA methylation is an epigenetic regulatory mechanism that plays an essential role in mediating biological processes and determining phenotypic plasticity in organisms. Although the horse reference genome and whole transcriptome data are publically available the global DNA methylation data are yet to be known. Results: We report the first genome-wide DNA methylation characteristics data from skeletal muscle, heart, lung, and cerebrum tissues of thoroughbred (TH) and Jeju (JH) horses, an indigenous Korea breed, respectively by methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing. The analysis of the DNA methylation patterns indicated that the average methylation density was the lowest in the promoter region, while the density in the coding DNA sequence region was the highest. Among repeat elements, a relatively high density of methylation was observed in long interspersed nuclear elements compared to short interspersed nuclear elements or long terminal repeat elements. We also successfully identified differential methylated regions through a comparative analysis of corresponding tissues from TH and JH, indicating that the gene body regions showed a high methylation density. Conclusions: We provide report the first DNA methylation landscape and differentially methylated genomic regions (DMRs) of thoroughbred and Jeju horses, providing comprehensive DMRs maps of the DNA methylome. These data are invaluable resource to better understanding of epigenetics in the horse providing information for the further biological function analyses.open1

Genome-Wide Analysis of DNA Methylation before- and after Exercise in the Thoroughbred Horse with MeDIP-Seq

Athletic performance is an important criteria used for the selection of superior horses. However, little is known about exercise-related epigenetic processes in the horse. DNA methylation is a key mechanism for regulating gene expression in response to environmental changes. We carried out comparative genomic analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in the blood samples of two different thoroughbred horses before and after exercise by methylated-DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-Seq). Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in the pre- and post-exercise blood samples of superior and inferior horses were identified. Exercise altered the methylation patterns. After 30 min of exercise, 596 genes were hypomethylated and 715 genes were hypermethylated in the superior horse, whereas in the inferior horse, 868 genes were hypomethylated and 794 genes were hypermethylated. These genes were analyzed based on gene ontology (GO) annotations and the exercise-related pathway patterns in the two horses were compared. After exercise, gene regions related to cell division and adhesion were hypermethylated in the superior horse, whereas regions related to cell signaling and transport were hypermethylated in the inferior horse. Analysis of the distribution of methylated CpG islands confirmed the hypomethylation in the gene-body methylation regions after exercise. The methylation patterns of transposable elements also changed after exercise. Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) showed abundance of DMRs. Collectively, our results serve as a basis to study exercise-based reprogramming of epigenetic traitsclose

Antibacterial Effects of Tea Tree Oil and Mastic Oil to Streptococcus mutans

Background: Tea tree oil has antiviral, antimicrobial and antifungal effects and Mastic oil has antifungal and anticancer effects. For synergistic effects of oils, blending oil containing a mixture of two to three oils is recommended. This study aimed to determine the antibacterial effects of Tea tree oil, Mastic oil, and Blending oil containing the two oils in a mixture, to verify and suggest the potential use of these oils as a substance to prevent dental caries.Methods: Tea tree oil, Mastic oil, and Blending oil with a 1:1 blend of the two oils were diluted in liquid medium to 0% (negative control), 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0%. Streptococcus mutans was applied to each experimental group of the three diluted oils and after 8 h culture, the optical density (OD) was measured and the growth inhibition rate for S. mutans was estimated.Results: Tea tree oil had significantly low OD values across all concentrations (p＜0.05) without significant variation among different concentrations (p＞0.05). Mastic oil did not significantly vary in OD compared to the negative control across all concentrations (p＞0.05) without significant variation among different concentrations (p＞0.05). Blending oil, compared to the negative control, did not significantly vary in OD at 0.5% (p＞0.05) but significant variation was found as the concentration increased (p＜0.05). Additionally, for Tea tree oil and Mastic oil, the growth inhibition rate showed no significant variation according to concentration (p＞0.05), whereas for Blending oil, the growth inhibition rate for S. mutans showed a significant difference at 1.0% (p＜0.05) and at higher concentrations. Conclusion: Blending oil containing a Tea tree oil and Mastic oil demonstrated a significant growth inhibition effect on S. mutans from the concentration of 1.0%, which suggested its potential use as an effective antibacterial agent for dental caries

Point defect-assisted doping mechanism and related thermoelectric transport properties in Pb-doped BiCuOTe

In this article we report point defect-assisted doping mechanism and related thermoelectric transport properties in Pb-doped BiCuOTe compounds. The substitution of trivalent Bi3+ with divalent Pb2+ led to the generation of more than one hole per single Pb atom. The origin of the extra charge carrier was discussed in terms of the formation energy of p-type native point defects, and it could be evidenced by the density functional theory calculations. Related charge transport properties indicated that control of the native point defect is critical to achieve high thermoelectric performance in BiCuOTe material system.X111513sciescopu