Evaluation Of DNA Methylation Of Stra8Gene Promoter In Male Brandt’s Vole

Brandt’s vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii), with a characteristic of seasonal reproduction, is one of majorrodent pests in typical grassland of east Inner Mongolia of China. As a testicle-specific expression gene,Stra8(stimulated by retinoic acid gene8) is considered to have a crucial role in meiosis initiation. Asone kind of important epigenetic modifications, DNA methylation carrys the information ofenvironmental influence on genomic. This paper analyzed DNA methylation of Stra8gene promoter andits relationship with Stra8gene expression to evaluate the role of DNA methylation in expressionregulation of Stra8gene in male Brandt’s Vole.We cloned part of cDNA sequence of Stra8gene, and then determined the transcription start site(TSS) of Stra8gene by5’-RACE. The upstream genomic sequences of Stra8gene were obtained bygenome walking on which were predicted with many transcription factors’ binding sites including SP1,NF1and several retinoic acid receptors. A CpG island was detected near the TSS of Stra8gene. Weanalyzed DNA methylation of Stra8gene promoter of Brandt’s Voles testis sampled in April, June andAugust. The data demonstrated the negative corelationship between promoter DNA methylation andStra8gene expression. One-way analysis of variance showed significant methylation differenceamong samples from April, June and August at CpG sites-721，-668，-598，-454，-335，-303and-266of TSS upstream sepuence. It indicates the possible correlation between methylation status of these sitesand Stra8expression regulation.