Genome-wide survey reveals dynamic widespread tissue-specific changes in DNA methylation during development
2011

Changes in DNA Methylation During Development

Sample size: 4 publication Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Liang Ping, Song Fei, Ghosh Srimoyee, Morien Evan, Qin Maochun, Mahmood Saleh, Fujiwara Kyoko, Igarashi Jun, Nagase Hiroki, Held William A

Primary Institution: Brock University, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, North-Eastern Hill University, University of British Columbia, State University of New York at Buffalo, Nihon University School of Medicine, Chiba Cancer Center

Hypothesis

How do DNA methylation changes affect normal development and disease?

Conclusion

The study shows that DNA methylation changes during development are dynamic, widespread, and tissue-specific.

Supporting Evidence

  • Almost 5,000 adult T-DMRs and 10,000 DS-DMRs were identified.
  • Many DS-DMRs are methylated at early development stages but are unmethylated in adults.
  • 94% of testis-specific methylation occurs in non-CpGi promoter regions.
  • The majority of T-DMRs and DS-DMRs are located within non-CpGi promoter regions.

Takeaway

This study looked at how DNA changes in different tissues as mice grow up, showing that these changes are important for how tissues develop.

Methodology

Methylated DNA ImmunoPrecipitation (MeDIP) was used with a NimbleGen array to identify differentially methylated regions in mouse tissues at various developmental stages.

Limitations

The study may underestimate the total number of differentially methylated regions due to the limited number of tissues and developmental stages analyzed.

Participant Demographics

C57BL/6J mice were used, analyzed at three developmental stages: embryo, newborn, and adult.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2164-12-231

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