Apparent microRNA-Target-specific Histone Modification in Mammalian Spermatogenesis

BACKGROUND Epigenetics is an important mRNA expression regulator. However, how distinct epigenetic factors, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and promoter methylation, cooperatively regulate mRNA expression is rarely discussed. Recently, apparent miRNA regulation of promoter methylation was identified by bioinformatic analysis; however, it has not yet been experimentally confirmed. If miRNA regulation of other epigenetic factors were identified, it would reveal another layer of epigenetic regulation. In this paper, histone modifications (H3K4me1, H3K4me3, H3K27me3, H3K27ac, H3K9ac, and H2AZ) during mammalian spermatogenesis were studied and the apparent miRNA-target-specific histone modification was investigated by bioinformatic analyses of publicly available datasets. RESULTS We identified several miRNAs' target genes that are significantly associated with histone modification during mammalian spermatogenesis. MiRNAs that target genes associated with the most significant histone modifications are expressed before or during spermatogenesis; thus the results were convincing. CONCLUSIONS In this paper, we identified apparent miRNA regulation of histone modifications using a bioinformatics approach. The biological mechanisms of this effect should be further experimentally investigated.