title: Intra- and interindividual epigenetic variation in human germ cells.
abstract: Epigenetics represents a secondary inheritance system that has been poorly investigated in human biology. The objective of this study was to perform a comprehensive analysis of DNA methylation variation between and within the germlines of normal males. First, methylated cytosines were mapped using bisulphite modification-based sequencing in the promoter regions of the following disease genes: presenilins (PSEN1 and PSEN2), breast cancer (BRCA1 and BRCA2), myotonic dystrophy (DM1), and Huntington disease (HD). Major epigenetic variation was detected within samples, since the majority of sperm cells of the same individual exhibited unique DNA methylation profiles. In the interindividual analysis, 41 of 61 pairwise comparisons revealed distinct DNA methylation profiles (P=.036 to 6.8 x 10(-14)). Second, a microarray-based epigenetic profiling of the same sperm samples was performed using a 12,198-feature CpG island microarray. The microarray analysis has identified numerous DNA methylation-variable positions in the germ cell genome. The largest degree of variation was detected within the promoter CpG islands and pericentromeric satellites among the single-copy DNA fragments and repetitive elements, respectively. A number of genes, such as EED, CTNNA2, CALM1, CDH13, and STMN2, exhibited age-related DNA methylation changes. Finally, allele-specific methylation patterns in CDH13 were detected. This study provides evidence for significant epigenetic variability in human germ cells, which warrants further research to determine whether such epigenetic patterns can be efficiently transmitted across generations and what impact inherited epigenetic individuality may have on phenotypic outcomes in health and disease.
authors.affiliation: The Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Flanagan
authors.forename: Violeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Popendikyte
authors.forename: Natalija
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pozdniakovaite
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sobolev
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assadzadeh
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.forename: Masood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zangeneh
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Virtanen
authors.forename: Sun-Chong
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Arturas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petronis
mesh_terms: D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D018899:CpG Islands; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic