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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-05, Vol.17 (5), p.e0263319-e0263319
Main Authors: Bhattacharya, Surajit, Amodei, Rebecka, Vilain, Eric, Roselli, Charles E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Androgens
Animal behavior
Animal models
Animals
Biology and life sciences
Bisulfite
Brain research
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA Methylation
Epigenetics
Female
Females
Gender differences
Gene Expression
Genes
Genetic aspects
Genomes
Hormones
Humans
Hypothalamus
Laboratory animals
Male
Males
Medicine and Health Sciences
Methylation
Phenotypic variations
Physical Sciences
Preferences
Rams
Research and Analysis Methods
Sex
Sexual behavior
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Sexual orientation
Sexual Partners
Sheep
Sheep - genetics
Sheep, Domestic
Steroid hormones
Transcriptomes
Transcriptomics
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Summary: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 and gene expression differences between FORs and MORs. Although none of the differentially methylated genes yielded significant functional terms directly associated with sex development, three differentially expressed genes were identified that have been associated previously with sexual behaviors. We hypothesize that these differences are involved in the phenotypic variation in ram sexual partner preferences, whereas future studies will have to find the specific mechanisms. Our results add an intriguing new dimension to sheep behavior that should be useful for further understanding epigenetic and transcriptomic involvement.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0263319