Methylation-sensitive amplification  polymorphism analysis of fat and muscle tissues in pigs.
DNA methylation may be involved in regulating the  expression of protein-coding genes, resulting in different fat and muscle  phenotypes. Using a methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism approach, we  obtained 7423 bands by selective amplification of genomic DNA from six  different fat depots and two heterogeneous muscle types from  Duroc/Landrace/Yorkshire cross-bred pigs. The degrees of DNA methylation,  determined by the percentages of hemi- and fully methylated sites relative to  the total number of CCGG sites, were similar in male and female pigs for each specific  tissue [χ(2) test; P (two-tailed) > 0.05]. Gender  bias was therefore ignored. There were significant differences in the degree of  DNA methylation among the eight tissue types [χ(2) test; P(total) (two-tailed)  = 0.009]. However, similar degrees of methylation were observed among the six  fat depots [χ(2) test; P(fat) (two-tailed) = 0.24 > 0.05]and between the two  muscle types [χ(2) test; P(muscle) (two-tailed) = 0.76 > 0.05]. We conclude that the  degree of DNA methylation differs between porcine fat and muscle tissue, but  that the methylation status of a particular tissue type is similar, despite  being deposited at different body sites.
Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, Sichuan, P.R. China.
J D
JD
Ma
M Z
MZ
Li
S L
SL
Zhou
C W
CW
Zhou
X W
XW
Li
D050154:Adiposity / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism*; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000235:genetics*