Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Matthew Barter, Dr Catherine Bui, Kat Cheung, Julia Falk, Dr Rodolfo Gomez, Dr Hannah Elliott, Dr Louise Reynard, Professor David YoungORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Regulation of transcription occurs in a cell type specific manner orchestrated by epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation. Methylation changes may also play a key role in lineage specification during stem cell differentiation. To further our understanding of epigenetic regulation in chondrocytes we characterised the DNA methylation changes during chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by Infinium 450 K methylation array. Significant DNA hypomethylation was identified during chondrogenic differentiation including changes at many key cartilage gene loci. Integration with chondrogenesis gene expression data revealed an enrichment of significant CpGs in upregulated genes, while characterisation of significant CpG loci indicated their predominant localisation to enhancer regions. Comparison with methylation profiles of other tissues, including healthy and diseased adult cartilage, identified chondrocyte-specific regions of hypomethylation and the overlap with differentially methylated CpGs in osteoarthritis. Taken together we have associated DNA methylation levels with the chondrocyte phenotype. The consequences of which has potential to improve cartilage generation for tissue engineering purposes and also to provide context for observed methylation changes in cartilage diseases such as osteoarthritis.
Author(s): Barter MJ, Bui C, Cheung K, Falk J, Gomez R, Skelton AJ, Elliott HR, Reynard LN, Young DA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2020
Volume: 10
Issue: 10
Online publication date: 24/01/2020
Acceptance date: 21/12/2019
Date deposited: 24/01/2020
ISSN (electronic): 2045-2322
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58093-5
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58093-5
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
