Mitochondrial DNA copy number can influence mortality and cardiovascular disease via methylation of nuclear DNA CpGs.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) has been associated with a variety of aging-related diseases, including all-cause mortality. However, the mechanism by which mtDNA-CN influences disease is not currently understood. One such mechanism may be through regulation of nuclear gene expression via the modification of nuclear DNA (nDNA) methylation. METHODS:To investigate this hypothesis, we assessed the relationship between mtDNA-CN and nDNA methylation in 2507 African American (AA) and European American (EA) participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. To validate our findings, we assayed an additional 2528 participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) (N?=?533) and Framingham Heart Study (FHS) (N?=?1995). We further assessed the effect of experimental modification of mtDNA-CN through knockout of TFAM, a regulator of mtDNA replication, via CRISPR-Cas9. RESULTS:Thirty-four independent CpGs were associated with mtDNA-CN at genome-wide significance (P?

SUBMITTER: Castellani CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7523322 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature