Effect of Promoter Methylation on the Expression of Porcine MUC2 Gene and Resistance to PEDV Infection

Integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier is closely related to the occurrence of diarrhea. As an important component protein of the intestinal mucosal barrier, Mucin 2 (MUC2) plays a critical role in preventing the invasion of pathogens, toxins, and foreign bodies. In the present study, we preliminary verified the function of the porcine gene in resisting porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection and investigated the effect of DNA methylation in the promoter region on gene expression. The results showed that after PEDV infection, the intestinal mucosal barrier was damaged. Moreover, expression was significantly higher in PEDV-infected piglets than in healthy piglets ( < 0.01). The mRNA expression of was significantly higher in PEDV-infected IPEC-J2 cells than in non-infected IPEC-J2 cells ( < 0.05). Methylation of the mC-5 site in the promoter inhibited the binding of Yin Yang 1 (YY1) to the promoter, down regulated the expression of and increased the susceptibility of piglets to PEDV. In conclusion, this study suggests that plays an essential regulatory role in PEDV infection. High expression improves the resistance of pigs to PEDV infection. The binding of YY1 to the promoter is hindered by the methylation of the mC-5 site, which downregulates expression and ultimately affects the resistance of pigs to PEDV infection.