title: DNA methylation profiling reveals the presence of population-specific signatures correlating with phenotypic characteristics.
abstract: Phenotypic characteristics are known to vary substantially among different ethnicities around the globe. These variations are mediated by number of stochastic events and cannot be attributed to genetic architecture alone. DNA methylation is a well-established mechanism that sculpts our epigenome influencing phenotypic variation including disease manifestation. Since DNA methylation is an important determinant for health issues of a population, it demands a thorough investigation of the natural differences in genome wide DNA methylation patterns across different ethnic groups. This study is based on comparative analyses of methylome from five different ethnicities with major focus on Indian subjects. The current study uses hierarchical clustering approaches, principal component analysis and locus specific differential methylation analysis on Illumina 450K methylation data to compare methylome of different ethnic subjects. Our data indicates that the variations in DNA methylation patterns of Indians are less among themselves compared to other global population. It empirically correlated with dietary, cultural and demographical divergences across different ethnic groups. Our work further suggests that Indians included in this study, despite their genetic similarity with the Caucasian population, are in close proximity with Japanese in terms of their methylation signatures.
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.|Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Giri
authors.affiliation: University School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), Dwarka, New Delhi, 110078, India.
authors.forename: Soham
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bharadwaj
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.
authors.forename: Priyanka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.|Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.
authors.forename: Shraddha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.
authors.forename: Vaisak
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parekatt
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.
authors.forename: Donaka
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rajashekar
authors.affiliation: Systems Genomics Laboratory, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomar
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India.
authors.forename: Aarthi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravindran
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Netaji Subhas Sanatorium (Tuberculosis Hospital), Kalyani, West Bengal, 741251, India.
authors.forename: Analabha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 110029, India. nikhil_tandon@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tandon
authors.affiliation: Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, 110020, India. db@jnu.ac.in.|Systems Genomics Laboratory, School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India. db@jnu.ac.in.
authors.forename: Dwaipayan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bharadwaj
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018899:CpG Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: DNA methylation; Epigenome; Phenotypic plasticity; Population signature