Combining Human Epigenetics and Sleep Studies in Caenorhabditis elegans: A Cross-Species Approach for Finding Conserved Genes Regulating Sleep.

ABSTRACT:

Study objectives

We aimed to test a combined approach to identify conserved genes regulating sleep and to explore the association between DNA methylation and sleep length.

Methods

We identified candidate genes associated with shorter versus longer sleep duration in college students based on DNA methylation using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip arrays. Orthologous genes in Caenorhabditis elegans were identified, and we examined whether their loss of function affected C. elegans sleep. For genes whose perturbation affected C. elegans sleep, we subsequently undertook a small pilot study to re-examine DNA methylation in an independent set of human participants with shorter versus longer sleep durations.

Results

Eighty-seven out of 485,577 CpG sites had sign

SUBMITTER: Huang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6075530 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature