Fetal sex-specific epigenetic associations with prenatal maternal depressive symptoms.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal maternal mental health is a global health challenge with poorly defined biological mechanisms. We used maternal blood samples collected during the second trimester from a Singaporean longitudinal birth cohort study to examine the association between inter-individual genome-wide DNA methylation and prenatal maternal depressive symptoms. We found that (1) the maternal methylome was significantly associated with prenatal maternal depressive symptoms only in mothers with a female fetus; and (2) this sex-dependent association was observed in a comparable, UK-based birth cohort study. Qualitative analyses showed fetal sex-specific differences in genomic features of depression-related CpGs and genes mapped from these CpGs in mothers with female fetuses implicated in a depression-a

SUBMITTER: Kee MZL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9421382 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature