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Guthrie card methylomics identifies temporally stable epialleles that are present at birth in humans (Methylation BeadChip)

ABSTRACT: A major concern in common disease epigenomics is distinguishing causal from consequential epigenetic variation. One means of addressing this issue is to identify the temporal origins of epigenetic variants via longitudinal analyses. However, prospective birth-cohort studies are expensive and time-consuming. Here we report DNA methylomics of archived Guthrie cards for the retrospective longitudinal analyses of in utero-derived DNA methylation variation. We first validate two methodologies for generating comprehensive DNA methylomes from Guthrie cards. Then, using an integrated epigenomic/genomic analysis of Guthrie cards and follow-up samplings, we identify inter-individual DNA methylation variation that is present both at birth and three years later. These findings suggest that disease-relevant epigenetic variation could be detected at birth i.e. before overt clinical disease. Guthrie card methylomics offers a potentially powerful and cost-effective strategy for studying the dynamics of inter-individual epigenomic variation in a range of common human diseases.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE37966 | GEO | 2012/08/27

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA167304

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Background: Standard Guthrie cards have been widely used to collect blood samples from neonates for newborn screening programs, and to a lesser extent, from normal controls and patients in research studies. Ease of blood collection (small quantity and less pain), transportation, and storage are the advantages of using these cards. It is believed that RNA obtained from these samples is of low quantity and degraded quality. However, we recently discovered that approximately 3,500 expressed genes can be detected from blood spot samples using in-house made, low resolution cDNA microarrays. Here, we established a new and improved methodology to acquire gene expression profiles from blood spot cards using commercially-available high resolution microarrays. We determined the optimal number of blood spot punches required for maximal RNA extraction, eliminated uses of trizol and chloroform for RNA extraction by using a modified protocol of the illustra Mini Spin Kit from GE-Whatm an, concentrated the quantity of RNA templates before amplification, improved amplification efficiency using the new Ribo-SPIA technology in WT-Ovation Pico System (WT-Pico) by NuGEN, before the samples were hybridized onto 4x44K whole human genome gene expression microarrays from Agilent. Nine dried blood spot samples were collected from a control population and stored at ~ -80 °C between 6 months to 2 years. High quality RNA was extracted from the buffy coat of the same individuals as a reference and processed using the standard Agilent microarray procedure. Commercially-available brain RNA was used as a positive control in both standard and new procedures for microarrays. Results: Three 3-mm punches produced the highest yield of total RNA using the non-trizol extraction method. Three to six nanogram per microliter of RNA can be concentrated and is sufficient to be amplified using the WT-Pico. Approximately 9,000 expressed genes can be detected after normalization and background correction of the microarray data. Conclusion: Genome-wide gene expression profile can be obtained from archived dried blood spot samples. Our new and improved methodology will add value to the perception of utilizing archival Guthrie cards eg. neonatal blood spot cards as unique biospecimens for molecular genomics and diagnostic studies of perinatal diseases such as pediatric cancers. Keywords: Gene Expression experiment Archival guthrie blood-spot cards may contain valuable data for epidemiological or other studies. Showing microarray data from guthrie blood-spot cards

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Guthrie card methylomics identifies temporally stable epialleles that are present at birth in humans (Methylation BeadChip)

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