DNMT3L is crucial for the osteogenesis ability of mesenchymal stem cells

DNA methyltransferase 3-like (DNMT3L), an epigenetic modulating factor known to participate in facilitating de novo DNA methylation with DNMT3A and DNMT3B, is mainly expressed in pluripotent stem cells and germ cells. We observed that Dnmt3l deficiency imped mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) self-renewal and proliferation by colony forming unit – fibroblast (CFU-F) assay and growth curve test. Furthermore, calcium precipitation is dramatically decreased after 14 days of osteogenic induction in Dnmt3l KO mice derived MSCs. We further investigated the gene expression pattern in undifferentiated and day 3 of osteogenic induction MSCs derived from wild type and Dnmt3l KO mice respectively by RNA-sequencing, and found that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) before osteogenesis are highlighted in various pathways related to bone and the DEGs from day 3 of osteogenic induction MSCs are associated with proliferation and differentiation. Collectively, these results indicate that Dnmt3l deficiency abrogated MSCs property and may play role in MSC differentiation potential. By these results, we suggested that transiently expressed DNMT3L in pluripotent stem cells contribute to mediation of epigenetic mark establishment and have a lasting effect in mesenchymal stem cells. gene expression analysis in undifferentiated and after 3 days of osteogenic induction of MSCs which respectively derived from wild type and Dnmt3l KO mice, two replicate