Project description:We analyzed levels of 5-methyl cytosine CCCGGG target sites by sequential restriction digest by SmaI and XmaI enzymes, ligating Illumina adaptors to the restriction fragments and reading methylation-specific signatures at the ends of restriction fragments by paired ends Illumina high throughput sequencing.
Project description:We analyzed levels of 5-methyl cytosine at CCCGGG target sites by sequential restriction digest by SmaI and XmaI enzymes, ligating Illumina adaptors to the restriction fragments and reading methylation-specific signatures at the ends of restriction fragments by paired ends Illumina high throughput sequencing.
Project description:We analyzed levels of 5-methyl cytosine at CCCGGG target sites by sequential restriction digest by SmaI and XmaI enzymes, ligating Illumina adaptors to the restriction fragments and reading methylation-specific signatures at the ends of restriction fragments by paired ends Illumina high throughput sequencing.
Project description:DNA methylation rates have previously been found to broadly correlate with maximum lifespan in mammals, yet no precise relationship has been observed. We developed a statistically robust framework to compare methylation rates at conserved age-related sites across mammals. We found that methylation rates negatively scale with maximum lifespan in both blood and skin. The emergence of explicit scaling suggests that methylation rates are, or are linked to, an evolutionary constraint on maximum lifespan acting across diverse mammalian lineages.
Project description:Epigenetic drift or "disorder" increases across the mouse lifespan and is suggested to underlie epigenetic clock signals. While the role of epigenetic drift in determining maximum lifespan across species has been debated, robust tests of this hypothesis are lacking. Here, we test if epigenetic disorder at various levels of genomic resolution explains maximum lifespan across four mammal species. We show that epigenetic disorder increases with age in all species and at all levels of genomic resolution tested. The rate of disorder accumulation occurs faster in shorter lived species and corresponds to species adjusted maximum lifespan. While the density of cytosine-phosphate-guanine dinucleotides ("CpGs") is negatively associated with the rate of age-associated disorder accumulation, it does not fully explain differences across species. Our findings support the hypothesis that the rate of epigenetic drift explains maximum lifespan and provide partial support for the hypothesis that CpG density buffers against epigenetic drift.