title: DNA methylome profiling of human tissues identifies global and tissue-specific methylation patterns.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  DNA epigenetic modifications, such as methylation, are important regulators of tissue differentiation, contributing to processes of both development and cancer. Profiling the tissue-specific DNA methylome patterns will provide novel insights into normal and pathogenic mechanisms, as well as help in future epigenetic therapies. In this study, 17 somatic tissues from four autopsied humans were subjected to functional genome analysis using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip, covering 486 428 CpG sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 2% of the CpGs analyzed are hypermethylated in all 17 tissue specimens; these permanently methylated CpG sites are located predominantly in gene-body regions. In contrast, 15% of the CpGs are hypomethylated in all specimens and are primarily located in regions proximal to transcription start sites. A vast number of tissue-specific differentially methylated regions are identified and considered likely mediators of tissue-specific gene regulatory mechanisms since the hypomethylated regions are closely related to known functions of the corresponding tissue. Finally, a clear inverse correlation is observed between promoter methylation within CpG islands and gene expression data obtained from publicly available databases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This genome-wide methylation profiling study identified tissue-specific differentially methylated regions in 17 human somatic tissues. Many of the genes corresponding to these differentially methylated regions contribute to tissue-specific functions. Future studies may use these data as a reference to identify markers of perturbed differentiation and disease-related pathogenic mechanisms.
authors.forename: Kaie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lokk
authors.forename: Vijayachitra
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Modhukur
authors.forename: Balaji
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rajashekar
authors.forename: Kaspar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Märtens
authors.forename: Reedik
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mägi
authors.forename: Raivo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kolde
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koltšina
authors.forename: Torbjörn K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Jaak
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vilo
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salumets
authors.forename: Neeme
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tõnisson
mesh_terms: D018899:CpG Islands; D019175:DNA Methylation; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D009928:Organ Specificity; D059467:Transcriptome