Many obesity-associated SNPs strongly associate with DNA methylation changes at proximal promoters and enhancers OmicsDI

ID: E-GEOD-73103

Date Released: 09-19-2015

Description: POMC, ADCY3, SSPN, LGR4, TUFM, MIR4721, SULT1A1, SULT1A2, APOBR, CLN3, SPNS1,SH2B1, ATXN2L, and IL27). Interestingly, the associated SNPs are in known eQTLs for some of these genes. We also found that the 107 CpGs are enriched in enhancers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Finally, our results indicate that some of these associations are not be blood-specific as we successfully replicated four associations in skin fibroblasts. Conclusions: Our results strongly suggest that many obesity-associated SNPs are associated with proximal gene regulation, which was reflected by association of obesity risk allele genotypes with differential DNA methylation. This study highlights the importance of DNA methylation and other chromatin marks as a way to understand the molecular basis of genetic variants associated to human diseases and traits. Bisulphite converted DNA from 355 individuals aged 14-34 were hybridised to the Illumina Infinium 450k Human Methylation Beadchip....