Identification of differential hypothalamic DNA methylation and gene expression associated with sexual partner preferences in rams.

ABSTRACT: The sheep is a valuable model to test whether hormone mechanisms that sexually differentiate the brain underlie the expression of sexual partner preferences because as many as 8% of rams prefer same-sex partners. Epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation act as mediators in the interaction between steroid hormones and the genome. Variations in the epigenome could be important in determining morphological or behavior differences among individuals of the same species. In this study, we explored DNA methylation differences in the hypothalamus of male oriented rams (MORs) and female oriented rams (FORs). We employed reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) to generate a genome-wide map of DNA methylation and RNA-Seq to profile the transcriptome. We found substantial DNA methylation

SUBMITTER: Bhattacharya S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9098078 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature