title: Genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in the sexual stage of the insect pathogenic fungus Cordyceps militaris.
abstract: DNA methylation is a basic epigenetic mechanism found in eukaryotes, but its patterns and roles vary significantly among diverse taxa. In fungi, DNA methylation has various effects on diverse biological processes. However, its function in the sexual development of fungi remains unclear. Cordyceps militaris, readily performs sexual reproduction and thus provides a remarkably rich model for understanding epigenetic processes in sexual development. Here, we surveyed the methylome of C. militaris at single-base resolution to assess DNA methylation patterns during sexual development using genomic bisulfite sequencing (BS-Seq). The results showed that approximately 0.4 % of cytosines are methylated, similar to the DNA methylation level (0.39 %) during asexual development. Importantly, we found that DNA methylation in the fungi undergoes global reprogramming during fungal development. Moreover, RNA-Seq analysis indicated that the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) have no correlation with the genes that have roles during fungal sexual development in C. militaris. These results provide a comprehensive characterization of DNA methylation in the sexual development of C. militaris, which will contribute to future investigations of epigenetics in fungi.
authors.affiliation: Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Long
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China; School of Plant Protection, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
authors.forename: Zhang-Xun
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: sbwang@sibs.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Si-Bao
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China. Electronic address: bhuang@ahau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D032661:Cordyceps / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D011679:Pupa / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins
keywords: Genomic bisulfite sequencing (BS-Seq); Global reprogramming; Methylome; RNA-Seq; Sexual development