Meta-analysis of human methylation data for evidence of sex-specific autosomal patterns
RESULTS: Overall autosomal methylation profiles varied substantially by study, and we encountered substantial batch effects. We accounted for these by conducting random effects meta-analysis for individual autosomal CpG methylation associations. After excluding non-specific probes, we found 184 autosomal CpG sites differentially methylated by sex after correction for multiple testing. In line with previous studies, average beta differences were small. Many of the most significantly associated CpG probes were new. Of note was differential CpG methylation in the promoters of genes thought to be involved in spermatogenesis and male fertility, such as SLC9A2, SPESP1, CRISP2, and NUPL1. Pathway analysis revealed overrepresentation of genes differentially methylated by sex in several broad Gene Ontology biological processes, including RNA splicing and DNA repair.
CONCLUSIONS: This study represents a comprehensive analysis of sex-specific methylation patterns. We demonstrate the existence of sex-specific methylation profiles and report a large number of novel DNA methylation differences in autosomal CpG sites between sexes.
History
Publication title
BMC GenomicsVolume
15Article number
981Number
981Pagination
1-11ISSN
1471-2164Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical ResearchPublisher
Biomed Central LtdPlace of publication
Middlesex House, 34-42 Cleveland St, London, England, W1T 4LbRights statement
Copyright 2016 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Repository Status
- Open