title: Global differences in specific histone H3 methylation are associated with overweight and type 2 diabetes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epidemiological evidence indicates yet unknown epigenetic mechanisms underlying a propensity for overweight and type 2 diabetes. We analyzed the extent of methylation at lysine 4 and lysine 9 of histone H3 in primary human adipocytes from 43 subjects using modification-specific antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The level of lysine 9 dimethylation was stable, while adipocytes from type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic overweight subjects exhibited about 40% lower levels of lysine 4 dimethylation compared with cells from normal-weight subjects. In contrast, trimethylation at lysine 4 was 40% higher in adipocytes from overweight diabetic subjects compared with normal-weight and overweight non-diabetic subjects. There was no association between level of modification and age of subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings define genome-wide molecular modifications of histones in adipocytes that are directly associated with overweight and diabetes, and thus suggest a molecular basis for existing epidemiological evidence of epigenetic inheritance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping SE58185, Sweden. peter.stralfors@liu.se.
authors.forename: Asa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jufvas
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sjödin
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lundqvist
authors.forename: Risul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Vener
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Strålfors