Disentangling age-dependent DNA methylation: deterministic, stochastic, and nonlinear.

ABSTRACT: DNA methylation variability arises due to concurrent genetic and environmental influences. Each of them is a mixture of regular and noisy sources, whose relative contribution has not been satisfactorily understood yet. We conduct a systematic assessment of the age-dependent methylation by the signal-to-noise ratio and identify a wealth of "deterministic" CpG probes (about 90%), whose methylation variability likely originates due to genetic and general environmental factors. The remaining 10% of "stochastic" CpG probes are arguably governed by the biological noise or incidental environmental factors. Investigating the mathematical functional relationship between methylation levels and variability, we find that in about 90% of the age-associated differentially methylated positions, the varia

SUBMITTER: Vershinina O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8080842 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature