Vitamin C and L-Proline antagonistic effects capture alternative states in the pluripotency continuum [RRBS]. Mus musculus

RRBS analysis identified ~1000 differentially methylated regions (DMRs), distributed throughout all chromosomes Interestingly, the majority of DMRs (77% at day 2 and 96% at day 5) that were hypomethylated in VitC-, were conversely hypermethylated in L-Pro-treated ESCs, thus indicating that VitC and L-Pro modulate methylation at the same DNA regions in an opposite manner. Of note, a high fraction of DMRs (50%) laid in promoters (mostly HCPs) and ~20% in enhancers. Moreover, DMRs-associated genes are highly enriched in genes related to developmental process (p=6,3E-38) and DNA-binding transcriptional regulators (p=9,7E-34). Our findings provide the first evidence that L-Pro availability regulates DNA methylation in ESCs and leads to the hypothesis that the antagonistic effects of VitC and L-Pro on DNA methylation pattern might regulate pluripotency. Overall design: DNA methylation profile of L-Pro- and VitaminC-treated and untreated cells at day 2 and day 5 using the Illumina HiSeq platform