Rules Governing the Mechanism of Epigenetic Reprogramming Memory

Abstract

Aim: Disclosing the mechanisms that regulate reprogramming memory. Materials & methods: We established computational procedure to find DNA methylation somatic memory sites (SMSs) at single CpGs and integrated them with genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics and imprinting information. Results & conclusion: Reprogramming memory persists at late passages in low methylated regions. Contrarily to hypomethylated, hypermethylated SMSs occur at evolutionary conserved sites overlapping active transcription loci in dynamic chromatin regions. The epigenetic-memory molecular origin is the expression of source-cell transcription factors protecting hypomethylated SMSs in euchromatin from de novo methylation, keeping source-cell lineage-specific loci in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells incompletely silenced. Sites in lineage-specific genes of different-from-those-of-the-source-cell lineages remain hypermethylated in heterochromatin regions becoming permanently silenced. SMSs cause differential expression between iPS cells and embryonic stem cells through two mechanisms: ‘epigenetic/expression memory rule’, the DNA unreprogramming methylation status coupled with chromatin states induces differentially expressed genes. ‘Imprinting control’, the change of DNA methylation status in imprinting control regions induces differential expression of imprinted genes.

Graphical abstract

Keywords::

• data integration
• epigenomics
• iPS cells
• NGS
• reprogramming memory

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2217/epi-2017-0098