Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
4-3-2018
Journal
Scientific Reports
Volume
8
Issue
1
Inclusive Pages
5526
DOI
10.1038/s41598-018-23063-5
Abstract
Human respiratory conditions are largely influenced by the individual's sex resulting in overall higher risk for males. Sex-based respiratory differences are present at birth suggesting a strong genetic component. Our objective was to characterize early life sex-based genomic signatures determined by variable X-chromosome methylation in the airways. We compared male versus female genome-wide DNA methylation in nasal airway samples from newborns and infants aged 1-6 months (N = 12). We analyzed methylation signals across CpG sites mapped to each X-linked gene using an unsupervised classifier (principal components) followed by an internal evaluation and an exhaustive cross-validation. Results were validated in an independent population of children (N = 72) following the same algorithm. X-linked genes with significant sex-based differential methylation in the nasal airway of infants represented only about 50% of the unique protein coding transcripts. X-linked genes without significant sex-based differential methylation included genes with evidence of escaping X-inactivation and female-biased airway expression. These genes showed similar methylation patterns in males and females suggesting unbalanced X-chromosome dosage. In conclusion, we identified that the human airways have already sex-based DNA methylation signatures at birth. These early airway epigenomic marks may determine sex-based respiratory phenotypes and overall predisposition to develop respiratory disorders later in life.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
APA Citation
Nino, C., Perez, G., Isaza, N., Gutierrez, M., Gomez, J., & Nino, G. (2018). Characterization of Sex-Based Dna Methylation Signatures in the Airways During Early Life.. Scientific Reports, 8 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23063-5
Peer Reviewed
1
Open Access
1
Comments
Reproduced with permission of MacMillan Publishers Ltd. Scientific Reports