Imprinted genes and satellite loci are differentially methylated in bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer clones

In mammals, genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming systems exist in primordial germ cells and zygotes. These reprogramming systems play crucial roles in regulating genome functions during critical stages of embryonic development, and they confer the stability of gene expression during mammalian development. The frequent unexpected loss of progeny from somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is an ongoing problem. In this study, we used six cloned bovines (named NT-1 to NT-6), which were created by ear fibroblast nuclear transfer and displayed short life spans with multiple organ defects, as an experimental model. We focus here on three imprinted genes (IGF2, H19, and XIST) and four satellite loci (Satellite I, Satellite II, Art2, and VNTR) to investigate their methylation changes. The results revealed that aberrant methylation frequently occurred in the analyzed imprinted genes, but not in the satellite loci, of the cloned bovines. After the bovine fibroblast cells were treated with the 5-aza-2(')-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dc) demethylation agent, the methylation percentages of the XIST and H19 putative differentially methylated region (DMR) were significantly decreased (XIST, p<0.01; H19, p<0.05) followed by an increase in their mRNA expression levels (p<0.01). Furthermore, we found that five short-lived cloned bovines (NT-1 to NT-5) exhibited more severe aberrant methylation changes in the three imprinted genes examined than the little longer-lived clone (NT-6) compared with wild-type (WT) cows. Our data suggest that the reprogramming of the methylation-controlled regions between the imprinted genes and satellite loci are differences and may be involved with additional mechanisms that need further elucidation.