Meta-analysis of human methylomes reveals stably methylated sequences surrounding CpG islands associated with high gene expression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

DNA methylation is thought to play an important role in the regulation of mammalian gene expression, partly based on the observation that a lack of CpG island methylation in gene promoters is associated with high transcriptional activity. However, the CpG island methylation level only accounts for a fraction of the variance in gene expression, and methylation in other domains is hypothesized to play a role. We hypothesized that regions of very high stability in methylation would exist and provide biological insight into the role of methylation both within and outside CpG islands.

Results

We set out to identify highly stable regions in the human methylome, based on the subset of CpGs assayed with an Illumina Infinium 450 K array. Using 1,737 samples from 30 publica

SUBMITTER: Edgar R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4260796 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature