title: Molecular characterization and epigenetic regulation of Mei1 in cattle and cattle-yak.
abstract: Mei1 is required for the homologous recombination of meiosis during the mammalian spermatogenesis. However, the knowledge about bovine Mei1 (bMei1) is still limited. In the present study, we cloned and characterized the bMei1, and investigated the epigenetic regulatory mechanism of bMei1 expression in vivo and in vitro. The full length coding region of bMei1 was 3819bp, which encoded a polypeptide of 1272 amino acids. Real-time PCR showed that the mRNA expression level of bMei1 in the testis of cattle-yak with meiotic arrest and male infertility was significantly decreased as compared with cattle (P<0.01). Conversely, the methylation levels of bMei1 promoter and gene body in the testis of cattle-yak were significantly increased. Additionally, the expression level of bMei1 in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs) was activated by treatment with the methyltransferase inhibitor 5-aza-2' deoxycytidine (5-Aza-CdR). Our data suggest that bMei1 may play an important role in the meiosis of spermatogenesis and may be involved in cattle-yak male sterility, and its transcription was regulated by DNA methylation.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Bojiang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Wangjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Zequn
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Honglin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China. Electronic address: liqifa@njau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qifa
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Zengxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D004247:DNA
keywords: Gene body; Male infertility; Methylation; Promoter; bMei1