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Karetnikov DI, Romanov SE, Baklaushev VP, Laktionov PP. Age Prediction Using DNA Methylation Heterogeneity Metrics. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:4967. [PMID: 38732187 PMCID: PMC11084170 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25094967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2024] [Revised: 04/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Dynamic changes in genomic DNA methylation patterns govern the epigenetic developmental programs and accompany the organism's aging. Epigenetic clock (eAge) algorithms utilize DNA methylation to estimate the age and risk factors for diseases as well as analyze the impact of various interventions. High-throughput bisulfite sequencing methods, such as reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) or whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), provide an opportunity to identify the genomic regions of disordered or heterogeneous DNA methylation, which might be associated with cell-type heterogeneity, DNA methylation erosion, and allele-specific methylation. We systematically evaluated the applicability of five scores assessing the variability of methylation patterns by evaluating within-sample heterogeneity (WSH) to construct human blood epigenetic clock models using RRBS data. The best performance was demonstrated by the model based on a metric designed to assess DNA methylation erosion with an MAE of 3.686 years. We also trained a prediction model that uses the average methylation level over genomic regions. Although this region-based model was relatively more efficient than the WSH-based model, the latter required the analysis of just a few short genomic regions and, therefore, could be a useful tool to design a reduced epigenetic clock that is analyzed by targeted next-generation sequencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry I. Karetnikov
- Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Stanislav E. Romanov
- Epigenetics Laboratory, Department of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Vladimir P. Baklaushev
- Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnologies, Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, 117513 Moscow, Russia
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
- Department of Medical Nanobiotechnology, Medical and Biological Faculty, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 117997 Moscow, Russia
| | - Petr P. Laktionov
- Epigenetics Laboratory, Department of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
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Gim JA. Integrative Approaches of DNA Methylation Patterns According to Age, Sex and Longitudinal Changes. Curr Genomics 2023; 23:385-399. [PMID: 37920553 PMCID: PMC10173416 DOI: 10.2174/1389202924666221207100513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In humans, age-related DNA methylation has been studied in blood, tissues, buccal swabs, and fibroblasts, and changes in DNA methylation patterns according to age and sex have been detected. To date, approximately 137,000 samples have been analyzed from 14,000 studies, and the information has been uploaded to the NCBI GEO database. Methods A correlation between age and methylation level and longitudinal changes in methylation levels was revealed in both sexes. Here, 20 public datasets derived from whole blood were analyzed using the Illumina BeadChip. Batch effects with respect to the time differences were correlated. The overall change in the pattern was provided as the inverse of the coefficient of variation (COV). Results Of the 20 datasets, nine were from a longitudinal study. All data had age and sex as common variables. Comprehensive details of age-, sex-, and longitudinal change-based DNA methylation levels in the whole blood sample were elucidated in this study. ELOVL2 and FHL2 showed the maximum correlation between age and DNA methylation. The methylation patterns of genes related to mental health differed according to age. Age-correlated genes have been associated with malformations (anteverted nostril, craniofacial abnormalities, and depressed nasal bridge) and drug addiction (drug habituation and smoking). Conclusion Based on 20 public DNA methylation datasets, methylation levels according to age and longitudinal changes by sex were identified and visualized using an integrated approach. The results highlight the molecular mechanisms underlying the association of sex and biological age with changes in DNA methylation, and the importance of optimal genomic information management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeong-An Gim
- Medical Science Research Center, College of Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Seoul 08308, Republic of Korea
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Meyer BS, Moiron M, Caswara C, Chow W, Fedrigo O, Formenti G, Haase B, Howe K, Mountcastle J, Uliano-Silva M, Wood J, Jarvis ED, Liedvogel M, Bouwhuis S. Sex-specific changes in autosomal methylation rate in ageing common terns. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.982443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Senescence, an age-related decline in survival and/or reproductive performance, occurs in species across the tree of life. Molecular mechanisms underlying this within-individual phenomenon are still largely unknown, but DNA methylation changes with age are among the candidates. Using a longitudinal approach, we investigated age-specific changes in autosomal methylation of common terns, relatively long-lived migratory seabirds known to show senescence. We collected blood at 1-, 3- and/or 4-year intervals, extracted DNA from the erythrocytes and estimated autosomal DNA methylation by mapping Reduced Representative Bisulfite Sequencing reads to a de novo assembled reference genome. We found autosomal methylation levels to decrease with age within females, but not males, and no evidence for selective (dis)appearance of birds of either sex in relation to their methylation level. Moreover, although we found positions in the genome to consistently vary in their methylation levels, individuals did not show such strong consistent variance. These results pave the way for studies at the level of genome features or specific positions, which should elucidate the functional consequences of the patterns observed, and how they translate to the ageing phenotype.
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Ghafouri-Fard S, Khoshbakht T, Hussen BM, Taheri M, Ebrahimzadeh K, Noroozi R. The emerging role of long non-coding RNAs, microRNAs, and an accelerated epigenetic age in Huntington’s disease. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:987174. [PMID: 36185471 PMCID: PMC9520620 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.987174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease with variable clinical manifestations. Recent studies highlighted the contribution of epigenetic alterations to HD progress and onset. The potential crosstalk between different epigenetic layers and players such as aberrant expression of non-coding RNAs and methylation alterations has been found to affect the pathogenesis of HD or mediate the effects of trinucleotide expansion in its pathophysiology. Also, microRNAs have been assessed for their roles in the modulation of HD manifestations, among them are miR-124, miR-128a, hsa-miR-323b-3p, miR-432, miR-146a, miR-19a, miR-27a, miR-101, miR-9*, miR-22, miR-132, and miR-214. Moreover, long non-coding RNAs such as DNM3OS, NEAT1, Meg3, and Abhd11os are suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of HD. An accelerated DNA methylation age is another epigenetic signature reported recently for HD. The current literature search collected recent findings of dysregulation of miRNAs or lncRNAs as well as methylation changes and epigenetic age in HD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Tayyebeh Khoshbakht
- Phytochemistry Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Bashdar Mahmud Hussen
- Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Iraq
- Center of Research and Strategic Studies, Lebanese French University, Erbil, Iraq
| | - Mohammad Taheri
- Institute of Human Genetics, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany
- Urology and Nephrology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Kaveh Ebrahimzadeh
- Skull Base Research Center, Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- *Correspondence: Kaveh Ebrahimzadeh,
| | - Rezvan Noroozi
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
- Rezvan Noroozi,
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5
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Li A, Mueller A, English B, Arena A, Vera D, Kane AE, Sinclair DA. Novel feature selection methods for construction of accurate epigenetic clocks. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1009938. [PMID: 35984867 PMCID: PMC9432708 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Epigenetic clocks allow us to accurately predict the age and future health of individuals based on the methylation status of specific CpG sites in the genome and are a powerful tool to measure the effectiveness of longevity interventions. There is a growing need for methods to efficiently construct epigenetic clocks. The most common approach is to create clocks using elastic net regression modelling of all measured CpG sites, without first identifying specific features or CpGs of interest. The addition of feature selection approaches provides the opportunity to optimise the identification of predictive CpG sites. Here, we apply novel feature selection methods and combinatorial approaches including newly adapted neural networks, genetic algorithms, and 'chained' combinations. Human whole blood methylation data of ~470,000 CpGs was used to develop clocks that predict age with R2 correlation scores of greater than 0.73, the most predictive of which uses 35 CpG sites for a R2 correlation score of 0.87. The five most frequent sites across all clocks were modelled to build a clock with a R2 correlation score of 0.83. These two clocks are validated on two external datasets where they maintain excellent predictive accuracy. When compared with three published epigenetic clocks (Hannum, Horvath, Weidner) also applied to these validation datasets, our clocks outperformed all three models. We identified gene regulatory regions associated with selected CpGs as possible targets for future aging studies. Thus, our feature selection algorithms build accurate, generalizable clocks with a low number of CpG sites, providing important tools for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Li
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Amber Mueller
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Brad English
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Anthony Arena
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Daniel Vera
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Alice E. Kane
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - David A. Sinclair
- Blavatnik Institute, Dept. of Genetics, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
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Ye Z, Jiang L, Zhao M, Liu J, Dai H, Hou Y, Wang Z. Epigenome-wide screening of CpG markers to develop a multiplex methylation SNaPshot assay for age prediction. Leg Med (Tokyo) 2022; 59:102115. [PMID: 35810521 DOI: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2022.102115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Revised: 06/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Age prediction can provide important information about the contributors of biological evidence left at crime scenes. DNA methylation has been regarded as the most promising age-predictive biomarker. Measuring themethylation level at the genome-wide scaleis an important step to screen specific markers for forensic age prediction. In present study, we screened out five age-related CpG sites from the public EPIC BeadChip data and evaluated them in a training set (115 blood) by multiplex methylation SNaPshot assay. Through full subset regression, the five markers were narrowed down to three, namely cg10501210 (C1orf132), cg16867657 (ELOVL2), and cg13108341 (DNAH9), of which the last one was a newly discovered age-related CpG site. An age prediction model was built based on these three markers, explaining 86.8% of the variation of age with a mean absolute deviation (MAD) of 4.038 years. Then, the multiplex methylation SNaPshot assay was adjusted according to the age prediction model. Considering that bloodstains are one of the most common biological samples in practical cases, three validation sets composed of 30 blood, 30 fresh bloodstains and 30 aged bloodstains were used for evaluation of the age prediction model. The MAD of each set was estimated as 4.734, 4.490, and 5.431 years, respectively, suggesting that our age prediction model was applicable for age prediction for blood and bloodstains in Chinese Han population of 11-71 age. In general, this study describes a workflow of screening CpG markers from public chip data and presents a 3-CpG markers model for forensic age prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziwei Ye
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Key Laboratory of Evidence Science (China University of Political Science and Law), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100088, China
| | - Lirong Jiang
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Mengyao Zhao
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Hao Dai
- Department of Forensic Pathology, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Yiping Hou
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Zheng Wang
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; Key Laboratory of Evidence Science (China University of Political Science and Law), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100088, China.
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7
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Shen X, Dong N, Xu Y, Han L, Yang R, Liao J, Zhang X, Xie T, Wang Y, Chen C, Liu M, Jiang Y, Yu L, Fang Q. Analyzing Corin–BNP–NEP Protein Pathway Revealing Differential Mechanisms in AF-Related Ischemic Stroke and No AF-Related Ischemic Stroke. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:863489. [PMID: 35615592 PMCID: PMC9125077 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.863489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF)-related stroke increases with aging. Natriuretic peptides (NPs) family, including Corin-B type natriuretic peptide (BNP)-neprilysin (NEP) protein levels increased with age and are risk markers of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as AF and cardioembolic stroke. Aging is also linked to epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation. However, only a few studies have investigated the effect of DNA methylation on the NP system. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate whether the Corin-BNP-NEP protein pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of AF-stroke and CpG methylation in the promoter region of the Corin protein gene has an effect on AF-related ischemic stroke. Methods A total of 82 patients hospitalized with acute ischemic strokes were enrolled in this study. The differences in clinical information were compared between the AF-stroke (n = 37) and no AF-stroke groups (n = 45). Plasma-soluble Corin and NEP were detected using an ELISA kit. CpG methylation in the promoter region of the gene was assessed by a next-generation sequencing-based bisulfite sequencing polymerase chain reaction (BSP). Results (1) Patients in AF-stroke were older, had higher initial NIHSS score, 90-day mRs, higher D2-dimer, INR, and APTT, and low TG, TC, and HbA1c (all p < 0.05). (2) Serum levels of Corin and BNP in the AF-stroke group were significantly higher than that in the no AF-stroke group (p < 0.05). No significant difference was detected in the serum levels of NEP between the two groups. (3) The levels of CpG methylation in the promoter region of the Corin protein gene in the AF-stroke group was significantly lower than that in the no AF-stroke group (p < 0.05). The CpG sites with maximal methylation differences between the two groups were CORIN:678, CORIN:682, CORIN:694, and CORIN:700. Conclusion The current findings raise the possibility that the Corin–BNP–NEP protein pathway may be involved in the pathogenesis of AF-related ischemic stroke. Deficient CpG methylation in the promoter region of the Corin protein gene is associated with AF-related ischemic stroke.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaozhu Shen
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
- Department of Geriatrics, Lianyungang Second People’s Hospital, Lianyungang, China
| | - Nan Dong
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
- Department of Neurology, Suzhou Industrial Park Xinghai Hospital, Suzhou, China
| | - Yiwen Xu
- Department of General Medicine, Lianyungang Hospital, Affiliated to Jiangsu University (Lianyungang Second People’s Hospital), Lianyungang, China
- *Correspondence: Yiwen Xu,
| | - Lin Han
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Rui Yang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Juan Liao
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Xianxian Zhang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Tao Xie
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Yugang Wang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Chen Chen
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Mengqian Liu
- Department of General Medicine, Lianyungang Hospital, Affiliated to Jiangsu University (Lianyungang Second People’s Hospital), Lianyungang, China
| | - Yi Jiang
- Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
| | - Liqiang Yu
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Qi Fang
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
- Qi Fang,
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Obesity-Associated Differentially Methylated Regions in Colon Cancer. J Pers Med 2022; 12:jpm12050660. [PMID: 35629083 PMCID: PMC9142939 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12050660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Obesity with adiposity is a common disorder in modern days, influenced by environmental factors such as eating and lifestyle habits and affecting the epigenetics of adipose-based gene regulations and metabolic pathways in colorectal cancer (CRC). We compared epigenetic changes of differentially methylated regions (DMR) of genes in colon tissues of 225 colon cancer cases (154 non-obese and 71 obese) and 15 healthy non-obese controls by accessing The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. We applied machine-learning-based analytics including generalized regression (GR) as a confirmatory validation model to identify the factors that could contribute to DMRs impacting colon cancer to enhance prediction accuracy. We found that age was a significant predictor in obese cancer patients, both alone (p = 0.003) and interacting with hypomethylated DMRs of ZBTB46, a tumor suppressor gene (p = 0.008). DMRs of three additional genes: HIST1H3I (p = 0.001), an oncogene with a hypomethylated DMR in the promoter region; SRGAP2C (p = 0.006), a tumor suppressor gene with a hypermethylated DMR in the promoter region; and NFATC4 (p = 0.006), an adipocyte differentiating oncogene with a hypermethylated DMR in an intron region, are also significant predictors of cancer in obese patients, independent of age. The genes affected by these DMR could be potential novel biomarkers of colon cancer in obese patients for cancer prevention and progression.
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Bryant P, Elofsson A. The relationship between ageing and changes in the human blood and brain methylomes. NAR Genom Bioinform 2022; 4:lqac001. [PMID: 35118376 PMCID: PMC8808541 DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqac001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Changes in DNA methylation have been found to be strongly correlated with age, enabling the creation of 'epigenetic clocks'. Previously, studies on the relationship between ageing and DNA methylation have assumed a linear relationship. Here, we show that several markers show a non-linear behaviour. In particular, we observe a tendency for saturation with age, especially in the cerebellum. Further, we show that the relationships between significant methylation changes and ageing are different in different tissues. We suggest a straightforward method of assessing all methylation-age relationships and cluster them according to their relative fold change. Our fold change selection outperforms the most common epigenetic clocks in predicting age for the cerebellum, but not for Blood or the Frontal Cortex. Further, we find that the saturation of methylation observed at older ages for the cerebellum explains why epigenetic clocks consistently underestimate the age there. The findings imply that assuming linear correlations might cause biologically important markers to be missed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bryant
- Science for Life Laboratory, Tomtebodavägen 23, Box 1031 17121, Solna, Sweden
| | - Arne Elofsson
- Science for Life Laboratory, Tomtebodavägen 23, Box 1031 17121, Solna, Sweden
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10
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Piniewska-Róg D, Heidegger A, Pośpiech E, Xavier C, Pisarek A, Jarosz A, Woźniak A, Wojtas M, Phillips C, Kayser M, Parson W, Branicki W. Impact of excessive alcohol abuse on age prediction using the VISAGE enhanced tool for epigenetic age estimation in blood. Int J Legal Med 2021; 135:2209-2219. [PMID: 34405265 PMCID: PMC8523459 DOI: 10.1007/s00414-021-02665-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
DNA methylation-based clocks provide the most accurate age estimates with practical implications for clinical and forensic genetics. However, the effects of external factors that may influence the estimates are poorly studied. Here, we evaluated the effect of alcohol consumption on epigenetic age prediction in a cohort of extreme alcohol abusers. Blood samples from deceased alcohol abusers and age- and sex-matched controls were analyzed using the VISAGE enhanced tool for age prediction from somatic tissues that enables examination of 44 CpGs within eight age markers. Significantly altered DNA methylation was recorded for alcohol abusers in MIR29B2CHG. This resulted in a mean predicted age of 1.4 years higher compared to the controls and this trend increased in older individuals. The association of alcohol abuse with epigenetic age acceleration, as determined by the prediction analysis performed based on MIR29B2CHG, was small but significant (β = 0.190; P-value = 0.007). However, the observed alteration in DNA methylation of MIR29B2CHG had a non-significant effect on age estimation with the VISAGE age prediction model. The mean absolute error in the alcohol-abusing cohort was 3.1 years, compared to 3.3 years in the control group. At the same time, upregulation of MIR29B2CHG expression may have a biological function, which merits further studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danuta Piniewska-Róg
- Jagiellonian University Medical College, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Forensic Medicine, Grzegórzecka 16, 31-531, Krakow, Poland
| | - Antonia Heidegger
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, Muellerstrasse 44, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Ewelina Pośpiech
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7A, 30-348, Krakow, Poland
| | - Catarina Xavier
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, Muellerstrasse 44, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Aleksandra Pisarek
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7A, 30-348, Krakow, Poland
| | - Agata Jarosz
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7A, 30-348, Krakow, Poland
| | - Anna Woźniak
- Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police, Aleje Ujazdowskie 7, 00-583, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Marta Wojtas
- Jagiellonian University Medical College, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Forensic Medicine, Grzegórzecka 16, 31-531, Krakow, Poland
| | - Christopher Phillips
- Forensic Genetics Unit, Institute of Forensic Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, R/ San Francisco s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Manfred Kayser
- Department of Genetic Identification, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Walther Parson
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, Muellerstrasse 44, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
- Forensic Science Program, The Pennsylvania State University, 13 Thomas Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Wojciech Branicki
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7A, 30-348, Krakow, Poland.
- Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police, Aleje Ujazdowskie 7, 00-583, Warsaw, Poland.
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11
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Kananen L, Marttila S. Ageing-associated changes in DNA methylation in X and Y chromosomes. Epigenetics Chromatin 2021; 14:33. [PMID: 34215292 PMCID: PMC8254238 DOI: 10.1186/s13072-021-00407-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Ageing displays clear sexual dimorphism, evident in both morbidity and mortality. Ageing is also associated with changes in DNA methylation, but very little focus has been on the sex chromosomes, potential biological contributors to the observed sexual dimorphism. Here, we sought to identify DNA methylation changes associated with ageing in the Y and X chromosomes, by utilizing datasets available in data repositories, comprising in total of 1240 males and 1191 females, aged 14–92 years. Results In total, we identified 46 age-associated CpG sites in the male Y, 1327 age-associated CpG sites in the male X, and 325 age-associated CpG sites in the female X. The X chromosomal age-associated CpGs showed significant overlap between females and males, with 122 CpGs identified as age-associated in both sexes. Age-associated X chromosomal CpGs in both sexes were enriched in CpG islands and depleted from gene bodies and showed no strong trend towards hypermethylation nor hypomethylation. In contrast, the Y chromosomal age-associated CpGs were enriched in gene bodies, and showed a clear trend towards hypermethylation with age. Conclusions Significant overlap in X chromosomal age-associated CpGs identified in males and females and their shared features suggest that despite the uneven chromosomal dosage, differences in ageing-associated DNA methylation changes in the X chromosome are unlikely to be a major contributor of sex dimorphism in ageing. While age-associated CpGs showed good replication across datasets in the present study, only a limited set of previously reported age-associated CpGs were replicated. One contributor to the limited overlap are differences in the age range of individuals included in each data set. Further study is needed to identify biologically significant age-associated CpGs in the sex chromosomes. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13072-021-00407-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Kananen
- Faculty of Social Sciences (Health Sciences), Tampere University, Tampere, Finland. .,Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland. .,Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. .,Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
| | - Saara Marttila
- Gerontology Research Center, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland. .,Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
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Lamb HJ, Hayes BJ, Nguyen LT, Ross EM. The Future of Livestock Management: A Review of Real-Time Portable Sequencing Applied to Livestock. Genes (Basel) 2020; 11:E1478. [PMID: 33317066 PMCID: PMC7763041 DOI: 10.3390/genes11121478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 11/10/2020] [Accepted: 12/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Oxford Nanopore Technologies' MinION has proven to be a valuable tool within human and microbial genetics. Its capacity to produce long reads in real time has opened up unique applications for portable sequencing. Examples include tracking the recent African swine fever outbreak in China and providing a diagnostic tool for disease in the cassava plant in Eastern Africa. Here we review the current applications of Oxford Nanopore sequencing in livestock, then focus on proposed applications in livestock agriculture for rapid diagnostics, base modification detection, reference genome assembly and genomic prediction. In particular, we propose a future application: 'crush-side genotyping' for real-time on-farm genotyping for extensive industries such as northern Australian beef production. An initial in silico experiment to assess the feasibility of crush-side genotyping demonstrated promising results. SNPs were called from simulated Nanopore data, that included the relatively high base call error rate that is characteristic of the data, and calling parameters were varied to understand the feasibility of SNP calling at low coverages in a heterozygous population. With optimised genotype calling parameters, over 85% of the 10,000 simulated SNPs were able to be correctly called with coverages as low as 6×. These results provide preliminary evidence that Oxford Nanopore sequencing has potential to be used for real-time SNP genotyping in extensive livestock operations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harrison J. Lamb
- Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia; (B.J.H.); (L.T.N.); (E.M.R.)
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