Differential gene body methylation and reduced expression of cell adhesion and neurotransmitter receptor genes in adverse maternal environment.

ABSTRACT: Early life adversity, including adverse gestational and postpartum maternal environment, is a contributing factor in the development of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression but little is known about the underlying molecular mechanism. In a model of gestational maternal adversity that leads to innate anxiety, increased stress reactivity and impaired vocal communication in the offspring, we asked if a specific DNA methylation signature is associated with the emergence of the behavioral phenotype. Genome-wide DNA methylation analyses identified 2.3% of CpGs as differentially methylated (that is, differentially methylated sites, DMSs) by the adverse environment in ventral-hippocampal granule cells, neurons that can be linked to the anxiety phenotype.

SUBMITTER: Oh JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3566713 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature