Investigation on the H3K27me3 histone modification-based gene expression repression associated to methane emission in Nelore cattle rumen tissue

• Grant number: 22/04393-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano
• Grantee: Juliana Afonso
• Supervisor: Marina Rufino Salinas Fortes
• Host Institution: Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Queensland, Brisbane (UQ), Australia
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/25639-0 - Predicted state of H3K27me3 histone modification in Nellore cattle muscle as an indicator of gene modulation associated with mineral amount and meat quality traits, BP.PD

Abstract

The H3K27me3 histone modification (HM) causes gene repression by heterochromatin formation. Even with recent studies aiming to compare the H3K27me3 enrichment between different bovine tissues and conditions, we did not find research focusing on the interaction of this HM and bovine phenotypes. We hypothesize that phenotypes related to diet and digestion can be linked to the variation of H3K27me3. So, our goal is to identify differential epigenetic regulation related to methane emission in rumen tissue of Nelore bulls, mainly related to the H3K27me3. We also aim to integrate these results with other omics data to explore the regulation mechanisms acting on the bovine digestive tract. This will be performed by a series of analyses with bovine rumen tissue samples contrasting for methane emission: prediction of genes being discordantly epigenetically regulated, ChIP-Seq with H3K27me3 antibody, identification of genes differentially enriched for H3K27me3 peaks and correlation analysis aiming to integrate the omic data with methane emission. These results can provide a new layer of information regarding the gene regulation over the methane emission variation. (AU)