DNA methylation of postnatal liver development in pig

In this study, BS-seq technology was used to analyze the epigenomic analysis of liver tissues of Rongchang pigs at three important feeding stages. There was little difference in DNA methylation profiles among the neonatal, weaned and adult groups. However, we observed significant changes in DNA methylation in the gene body and promoter regions of metabolic and immune-related genes from neonates to adulthood. Correlation analysis showed that the methylation level of gene promoters was significantly negatively correlated with gene expression. In neonatal Rongchang pigs, most genes related to nutritional metabolism lost DNA methylation and mRNA expression increased. The few fatty acid metabolism-related genes that were hypomethylated and highly expressed in the early development of Rongchang pigs may satisfy the nutritional requirements of Rongchang pig neonates, and their immune-related genes may be related to the establishment of liver immunity