Differentially methylated regions of imprinted genes in prenatal, perinatal and postnatal human tissues.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic plasticity in relation to in utero exposures may mechanistically explain observed differences in the likelihood of developing common complex diseases including hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease through the cumulative effects of subtle alterations in gene expression. Imprinted genes are essential mediators of growth and development and are characterized by differentially methylated regulatory regions (DMRs) that carry parental allele-specific methylation profiles. This theoretical 50% level of methylation provides a baseline from which endogenously- or exogenously-induced deviations in methylation can be detected. We quantified DNA methylation at imprinted gene DMRs in a large panel of human conceptal tissues, in matched buccal cell specimens collected at birth an

SUBMITTER: Murphy SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3396645 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature