Altered DNA Methylation of Long Noncoding RNA uc.167 Inhibits Cell Differentiation in Heart Development

In previous studies, we have demonstrated the function of uc.167 in the heart development. DNA methylation plays a crucial role in regulating the expression of developmental genes during embryonic development. In this study, the methylomic landscape was investigated in order to identify the DNA methylation alterations. Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) was performed to examine the differences in methylation status of overexpressed uc.167 in P19 cells. GO and KEGG pathway analyses of differentially methylated genes were also conducted. We found that the distribution of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) peaks in different components of genome was mainly located in intergenic regions and intron. The biological process associated with uc.167 was focal adhesion and Rap1 signaling pathway. MEF2C was significantly decreased in uc.167 overexpressed group, suggesting that uc.167 may influence the P19 differentiation through MEF2C reduction. Taken together, our findings revealed that the effect of uc.167 on P19 differentiation may be attributed to the altered methylation of specific genes.