期刊
EPIGENOMICS
卷 6, 期 1, 页码 21-31出版社
FUTURE MEDICINE LTD
DOI: 10.2217/epi.13.74
关键词
chromatin; comparative epigenomics; CpG islands; epigenetics; epigenomics; DNA methylation; gene regulation; human evolution; primate epigenetics
资金
- Wellcome Trust [99148]
- EU [257082, 282510]
- Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award [WM100023]
Background: Targeted recruitment of chromatin-modifying enzymes to clusters of CpG dinucleotides contributes toward the formation of accessible chromatin. By interprimate comparison we previously identified the set of nonpolymorphic human-specific CpGs (CpG beacons') and revealed that these loci were enriched for human disease traits. Due to their human-specific CpG density change, extreme CpG beacon' clusters (20 CpG beacons/kb) were predicted to identify permissive chromatin peaks within the human genome. Aim: We set out to explore these sequence-defined regions for evidence of an active chromatin signature. Results: Using available comparative primate epigenomic data from neurons of the prefrontal cortex, we show that these CpG beacon' clusters are indeed enriched for being human-specific H3K4me3 peaks ((2): p < 2.2 x 10(-16)) and thus predictive of permissive chromatin states. These sequence regions had a higher predictive value than previous selective analyses. We also show that both human-specific H3K4me3 and CpG beacon' clusters are increased within current and ancestral telomeric regions, supporting an association with recombination, which is higher towards the distal ends of chromosomes. Conclusion: Therefore, CpG-focused comparative sequence analysis can precisely pinpoint chromatin structures that contribute to the human-specific phenotype and further supports an integrated approach in genomic and epigenomic studies.
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