# name
The emerging landscape of dynamic DNA methylation in early
                childhood

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
BACKGROUND: DNA methylation has been found to associate with
                disease, aging and environmental exposure, but it is unknown how
                genome, environment and disease influence DNA methylation
                dynamics in childhood. RESULTS: By analysing 538 paired DNA
                blood samples from children at birth and at 4-5 years old and
                726 paired samples from children at 4 and 8 years old from four
                European birth cohorts using the Illumina Infinium Human
                Methylation 450 k chip, we have identified 14,150 consistent
                age-differential methylation sites (a-DMSs) at epigenome-wide
                significance of p < 1.14 x 10-7. Genes with an increase in
                age-differential methylation were enriched in pathways related
                to 'development', and were more often located in bivalent
                transcription start site (TSS) regions, which can silence or
                activate expression of developmental genes. Genes with a
                decrease in age-differential methylation were involved in cell
                signalling, and enriched on H3K27ac, which can predict
                developmental state. Maternal smoking tended to decrease
                methylation levels at the identified da-DMSs. We also found 101
                a-DMSs (0.71%) that were regulated by genetic variants using
                cis-differential Methylation Quantitative Trait Locus
                (cis-dMeQTL) mapping. Moreover, a-DMS-associated genes during
                early development were significantly more likely to be linked
                with disease. CONCLUSION: Our study provides new insights into
                the dynamic epigenetic landscape of the first 8 years of life.

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (ISGlobal)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
The emerging landscape of dynamic DNA methylation in early
                childhood