scholarly journals 5-Azacytidine Increases Tanshinone Production in Salvia miltiorrhiza Hairy Roots Through Epigenetic Modulation

Author(s):  
Bo-Cheng Yang ◽  
Meng-Shiou Lee ◽  
Ming-Kuem Lin ◽  
Wen-Te Chang

Abstract Recent studies have indicated strong connections between epigenetic modulation and secondary metabolites in plants. It is vital to understand the roles of epigenetics in the production of secondary metabolites. In this study, the DNA demethylation agent 5-azacytidine (5-Az) was used on the hairy roots of the medicinal crop Salvia miltiorrhiza to investigate its effect on secondary metabolite production, gene expression, and methylation levels in gDNA and promoter regions. Our results showed that the contents of tanshinones in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots increased by 1.5 to 5 times, and most genes in the MEP pathway showed an upward trend. According to our NGS analysis, the methylation pattern in the copalyl diphosphate synthase (CPS) promoter was altered, and 51 out of 145 cytosines were demethylated during 5-Az treatment. A total of 36 different transcription factors (TFs) were identified in these demethylation sites. Among these TFs, NF-Y and MYB were frequently found in our results. This is the first report to demonstrate a possible mechanism of DNA methylation participating in tanshinone biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots by modulating the CPS promoter and TFs.

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Xueqi Qu ◽  
Christiane Neuhoff ◽  
Mehmet Ulas Cinar ◽  
Maren Pröll ◽  
Ernst Tholen ◽  
...  

Inflammation is regulated by epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation and histone acetylation. Sulforaphane (SFN), a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, is also a potent immunomodulatory agent, but its anti-inflammatory functions through epigenetic modifications remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the epigenetic effects of SFN in maintaining the immunomodulatory homeostasis of innate immunity during acute inflammation. For this purpose, SFN-induced epigenetic changes and expression levels of immune-related genes in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) were analyzed. These results demonstrated that SFN inhibited HDAC activity and caused histone H3 and H4 acetylation. SFN treatment also induced DNA demethylation in the promoter region of the MHC-SLA1 gene, resulting in the upregulation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), MHC-SLA1, and inflammatory cytokines’ expression at 6 h of LPS stimulation. Moreover, the protein levels of cytokines in the cell culture supernatants were significantly inhibited by SFN pre-treatment followed by LPS stimulation in a time-dependent manner, suggesting that inhibition of HDAC activity and DNA methylation by SFN may restrict the excessive inflammatory cytokine availability in the extracellular environment. We postulate that SFN may exert a protective and anti-inflammatory function by epigenetically influencing signaling pathways in experimental conditions employing porcine moDCs.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2455
Author(s):  
Chun-Shan Liu ◽  
Reka Toth ◽  
Ali Bakr ◽  
Ashish Goyal ◽  
Md Saiful Islam ◽  
...  

Radiotherapy, a common component in cancer treatment, can induce adverse effects including fibrosis in co-irradiated tissues. We previously showed that differential DNA methylation at an enhancer of diacylglycerol kinase alpha (DGKA) in normal dermal fibroblasts is associated with radiation-induced fibrosis. After irradiation, the transcription factor EGR1 is induced and binds to the hypomethylated enhancer, leading to increased DGKA and pro-fibrotic marker expression. We now modulated this DGKA induction by targeted epigenomic and genomic editing of the DGKA enhancer and administering epigenetic drugs. Targeted DNA demethylation of the DGKA enhancer in HEK293T cells resulted in enrichment of enhancer-related histone activation marks and radiation-induced DGKA expression. Mutations of the EGR1-binding motifs decreased radiation-induced DGKA expression in BJ fibroblasts and caused dysregulation of multiple fibrosis-related pathways. EZH2 inhibitors (GSK126, EPZ6438) did not change radiation-induced DGKA increase. Bromodomain inhibitors (CBP30, JQ1) suppressed radiation-induced DGKA and pro-fibrotic marker expression. Similar drug effects were observed in donor-derived fibroblasts with low DNA methylation. Overall, epigenomic manipulation of DGKA expression may offer novel options for a personalized treatment to prevent or attenuate radiotherapy-induced fibrosis.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Krystyna Fabianowska-Majewska ◽  
Agnieszka Kaufman-Szymczyk ◽  
Aldona Szymanska-Kolba ◽  
Jagoda Jakubik ◽  
Grzegorz Majewski ◽  
...  

One of the most systematically studied bioactive nutraceuticals for its benefits in the management of various diseases is the turmeric-derived compounds: curcumin. Turmeric obtained from the rhizome of a perennial herb Curcuma longa L. is a condiment commonly used in our diet. Curcumin is well known for its potential role in inhibiting cancer by targeting epigenetic machinery, with DNA methylation at the forefront. The dynamic DNA methylation processes serve as an adaptive mechanism to a wide variety of environmental factors, including diet. Every healthy tissue has a precise DNA methylation pattern that changes during cancer development, forming a cancer-specific design. Hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes, global DNA demethylation, and promoter hypomethylation of oncogenes and prometastatic genes are hallmarks of nearly all types of cancer, including breast cancer. Curcumin has been shown to modulate epigenetic events that are dysregulated in cancer cells and possess the potential to prevent cancer or enhance the effects of conventional anti-cancer therapy. Although mechanisms underlying curcumin-mediated changes in the epigenome remain to be fully elucidated, the mode of action targeting both hypermethylated and hypomethylated genes in cancer is promising for cancer chemoprevention. This review provides a comprehensive discussion of potential epigenetic mechanisms of curcumin in reversing altered patterns of DNA methylation in breast cancer that is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among females worldwide. Insight into the other bioactive components of turmeric rhizome as potential epigenetic modifiers has been indicated as well.


2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 1032-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan-Ling Yu ◽  
Shan Dong ◽  
Li-Fang Gao ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Yuan-Di Xi ◽  
...  

An epigenetic mechanism has been suggested to explain the effects of the maternal diet on the development of disease in offspring. The present study aimed to observe the effects of a maternal high-lipid, high-energy (HLE) diet on the DNA methylation pattern of male offspring in mice. Female C57BL/6J mice were fed an HLE diet during gestation and lactation. The genomic DNA methylations at promoter sites of genes in the liver, mRNA and protein levels of selected genes related to lipid and glucose metabolism were measured by microarray, real-time PCR and Western blot. The results indicated that the percentage of methylated DNA in offspring from dams that were fed an HLE diet was significantly higher than that from dams that were fed a chow diet, and most of these genes were hypermethylated in promoter regions. The nuclear protein content and mRNA levels of hypermethylated genes, such as PPARγ and liver X receptor α (LXRα), were decreased significantly in offspring in the HLE group. The results suggested that the DNA methylation profile in adult offspring livers was changed by the maternal HLE diet during gestation and lactation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyu Dong ◽  
Xiaoyan Wei ◽  
Qianting Qi ◽  
Peilei Chen ◽  
Yanqing Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Epigenetic regulation plays a significant role in the accumulation of plant secondary metabolites. The terpenoids are the most abundant in the secondary metabolites of plants, iridoid glycosides belong to monoterpenoids which is one of the main medicinal components of R.glutinosa. At present, study on iridoid glycosides mainly focuses on its pharmacology, accumulation and distribution, while the mechanism of its biosynthesis and the relationship between DNA methylation and plant terpene biosynthesis are seldom reports. Results: The research showed that the expression of DXS, DXR, 10HGO, G10H, GPPS and accumulation of iridoid glycosides increased at first and then decreased with the maturity of R.glutinosa, and under different concentrations of 5-azaC, the expression of DXS, DXR, 10HGO, G10H, GPPS and the accumulation of total iridoid glycosides were promoted, the promotion effect of low concentration (15μM-50μM) was more significant, the content of genomic DNA 5mC decreased significantly, the DNA methylation status of R.glutinosa genomes was also changed. DNA demethylation promoted gene expression and increased the accumulation of iridoid glycosides, but excessive demethylation inhibited gene expression and decreased the accumulation of iridoid glycosides. Conclusion: The analysis of DNA methylation, gene expression, and accumulation of iridoid glycoside provides insights into accumulation of terpenoids in R.glutinosa and lays a foundation for future studies on the effects of epigenetics on the synthesis of secondary metabolites.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (11) ◽  
pp. 1228-1235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingyu HAN ◽  
Wanli GUO ◽  
Zongsuo LIANG ◽  
Dongfeng YANG ◽  
Xijun YAN ◽  
...  

Reproduction ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 161 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-424
Author(s):  
Yanhui Zhai ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Xinglan An ◽  
Sheng Zhang ◽  
Xiangjie Kong ◽  
...  

Pre-implantation embryos undergo genome-wide DNA demethylation, however certain regions, like imprinted loci remain methylated. Further, the mechanisms ensuring demethylation resistance by TRIM28 in epigenetic reprogramming remain poorly understood. Here, TRIM28 was knocked down in oocytes, and its effects on porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryo development was examined. Our results showed that SCNT embryos constructed from TRIM28 knockdown oocytes had significantly lower cleavage (53.9 ± 3.4% vs 64.8 ± 2.7%) and blastocyst rates (12.1 ± 4.3% vs 19.8 ± 1.9%) than control-SCNT embryos. The DNA methylation levels at the promoter regions of the imprinting gene IGF2 and H19 were significantly decreased in the 4-cell stage, and the transcript abundance of other imprinting gene was substantially increased. We also identified an aberrant two-fold decrease in the expression of CXXC1and H3K4me3 methyltransferase (ASH2L and MLL2), and the signal intensity of H3K4me3 had a transient drop in SCNT 2-cell embryos. Our results indicated that maternal TRIM28 knockdown disrupted the genome imprints and caused epigenetic variability in H3K4me3 levels, which blocked the transcription activity of zygote genes and affected the normal developmental progression of porcine SCNT embryos.


Agrobacterium rhizogenes induces hairy root disease in plants. The neoplastic (cancerous) roots produced by A. rhizogenes infection, when cultured in hormone free medium, show high growth rate and genetic stability. These genetically transformed root cultures can produce levels of secondary metabolites comparable to that of intact plants. Several elicitation methods can be used to further enhance the production and accumulation of secondary metabolites. Thus, hairy root culture offer promise for high production and productivity of valuable secondary metabolites in many plants. Hairy roots can also produce recombinant proteins from transgenic roots, and thereby hold immense potential for pharmaceutical industry. Hairy root cultures can be used to elucidate the intermediates and key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and for phytoremediation due to their abundant neoplastic root proliferation property. Various applications of hairy root cultures and potential problems associated with them are discussed in this chapter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-338
Author(s):  
Haihua Zhang ◽  
Haimin Chen ◽  
Zhuoni Hou ◽  
Ling Xu ◽  
Weibo Jin ◽  
...  

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