Salivary DNA methylation and pubertal development in adolescents.

ABSTRACT: Individuals differ in when and how quickly they experience puberty, and these differences in pubertal development are associated with lifelong health and mortality. We conducted sex-specific epigenome-wide association analyses of salivary DNA-methylation (DNAm) samples from ~ 3500 adolescents and identified 373 DNAm sites significantly associated with pubertal age, pace of pubertal development, and/or onset of early puberty by age 9. These DNAm signals converged with results from previous genomic and transcriptomic studies of puberty and with pan-mammalian epigenomic studies of age. Genomic annotations and trait enrichment results implicate child maltreatment and toxicant exposures as relevant for puberty. We developed a novel DNAm biomarker of pubertal age that was consistently associated

SUBMITTER: deSteiguer AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12528458 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature