CpG methylation differences between neurons and glia are highly conserved from mouse to human.

ABSTRACT: Understanding epigenetic differences that distinguish neurons and glia is of fundamental importance to the nascent field of neuroepigenetics. A recent study used genome-wide bisulfite sequencing to survey differences in DNA methylation between these two cell types, in both humans and mice. That study minimized the importance of cell type-specific differences in CpG methylation, claiming these are restricted to localized genomic regions, and instead emphasized that widespread and highly conserved differences in non-CpG methylation distinguish neurons and glia. We reanalyzed the data from that study and came to markedly different conclusions. In particular, we found widespread cell type-specific differences in CpG methylation, with a genome-wide tendency for neuronal CpG-hypermethylation pun

SUBMITTER: Kessler NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4706111 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature