Differential DNA Methylation and Gene Expression Between ALV-J-Positive and ALV-J-Negative Chickens

Abstract

Background: Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) is an oncogenic virus that causes serious economic losses in the poultry industry; unfortunately, there is no effective vaccine against ALV-J. DNA methylation plays a crucial role in several biological processes, and an increasing number of diseases have been proven to be related to alterations in DNA methylation. In this study, we screened ALV-J-positive and -negative chickens. Subsequently, we generated and provided the genome-wide gene expression and DNA methylation profiles by MeDIP-seq and RNA-seq of ALV-J-positive and -negative chicken samples; 8,304 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified by MeDIP-seq analysis (p ≤ 0.005) and 515 differentially expressed genes were identified by RNA-seq analysis (p ≤ 0.05). As a result of an integration analysis, we screened six candidate genes to identify ALV-J-negative chickens that possessed differential methylation in the promoter region. Furthermore, TGFB2 played an important role in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, which suggested TGFB2 may be an indicator for identifying ALV-J infections.

DNA methylation in poultry: a review

“…Genome-wide gene expression and DNA methylation profiles of ALV-J positive and negative chicken samples were generated and provided by MeDIP-seq and RNA-seq (RNA sequencing) studies. Six candidate genes were screened by integration analysis to identify ALV-J negative chickens with differences in methylation of promoter region [ 52 ] (Fig. 4 a).…”

“…Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) and Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (SE) can cause serious economic losses in the poultry industry by affecting poultry production, and pose a serious threat to public health [51,52]. A growing number of diseases have been shown to be associated with alterations in DNA methylation [53][54][55][56].…”