Journal
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
Volume 19, Issue 4, Pages 495-503Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/mp.2013.41
Keywords
ASD; autism; copy-number variation; DNA methylation; epigenetics; monozygotic twins
Funding
- Autism Speaks Grant [4743]
- UK Medical Research Council (MRC) [G0901245, G0500079]
- US National Institutes of Health [HD044454, HD046167]
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award
- St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- MRC Research Professorship award [G19/2]
- European Advanced Investigator Award [295366]
- UK MRC
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award
- MRC [G19/2, G0500079, G0901245] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [G0500079, G0901245, G9817803B, G19/2] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) defines a group of common, complex neurodevelopmental disorders. Although the aetiology of ASD has a strong genetic component, there is considerable monozygotic (MZ) twin discordance indicating a role for non-genetic factors. Because MZ twins share an identical DNA sequence, disease-discordant MZ twin pairs provide an ideal model for examining the contribution of environmentally driven epigenetic factors in disease. We performed a genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in a sample of 50 MZ twin pairs (100 individuals) sampled from a representative population cohort that included twins discordant and concordant for ASD, ASD-associated traits and no autistic phenotype. Within-twin and between-group analyses identified numerous differentially methylated regions associated with ASD. In addition, we report significant correlations between DNA methylation and quantitatively measured autistic trait scores across our sample cohort. This study represents the first systematic epigenomic analyses of MZ twins discordant for ASD and implicates a role for altered DNA methylation in autism.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available