IDENTIFICATION OF UNIQUE HISTONE MODIFICATION IN SLOW SKELETAL MUSCLE OF RATS. Rattus norvegicus

Skeletal muscle is classified into fast and slow characteristics. Although numerous studies reported the adaptation and transformation of muscle properties and phenotype in response to various stimuli, such as exercise, unloading and gene mutation models, the differences of the epigenetic background in these muscle types were unclear. Here, we demonstrate the major differences of histone modifications in fast plantaris and slow soleus of adult rats. Genome-wide ChIP-seq analysis revealed that transcriptionally active histone marks, tri-methylation at lysine 4 and acetylation of histone 3, were less mapped at the genes activated specially in slow soleus, whereas the transcription of fast muscle-specific genes associated with these active histone marks in fast plantaris.