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Differential Methylation of Imprinted Genes in Growth-Restricted Placentas

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Abstract

A complex network of epigenetic factors participates in regulating the monoallelic expression of a small subset of genes (˜1%) in the human genome. This phenomenon goes under the definition of genomic imprinting, a parent-of-origin effect that, when altered during early embryogenesis, may influence fetal development into adulthood. Pertubations in genomic imprinting have been associated with placental and fetal growth restrictions. We analyzed the differential DNA methylation of all known imprinted genes on 10 appropriate-for-gestational-age, clinically normal, placentas and 7 severe intrauterine growth-restricted placentas. Samples were pooled according to the diagnosis and analyzed by methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) on a tiling microarray platform. The distribution of the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) identified in growth-restricted placentas showed a slight tendency toward hypermethylation. Imprinted genes not expressed in placenta showed a unique DMR profile with the fewest hyper- and hypomethylated DMRs. Promoter and CpG island DMRs were sporadic and randomly distributed. The vast majority of DMR identified (˜99%) were mapped in introns, showing no common sequence features. Also, by using the more advanced array data mining softwares, no significant patterns emerged. In contrast, differential methylation showed a highly significant correlation with gene length. Overall these data suggest that differential methylation changes in growth-restricted placentas occur throughout the genomic regions, encompassing genes actively expressed in the placenta. These findings warrant caution in interpreting the significance of genes carrying clustered DMRs because the distribution of DMRs in a gene may be attributed as a function of its length rather than as a specific biological role.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levi Place, Box 1057, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Luca Lambertini, Andreas Diplas & Jia Chen

  2. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Luca Lambertini & Men-Jean Lee

  3. Laboratory of Clinical Genomics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Tin-Lap Lee & Wai-Yee Chan

  4. School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Wai-Yee Chan

  5. Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    James Wetmur

  6. Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    James Wetmur

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Jia Chen

  8. Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Jia Chen

Authors
  1. Luca Lambertini
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  2. Tin-Lap Lee
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  3. Wai-Yee Chan
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  4. Men-Jean Lee
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  5. Andreas Diplas
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  6. James Wetmur
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  7. Jia Chen
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Correspondence to Luca Lambertini.

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Lambertini, L., Lee, TL., Chan, WY. et al. Differential Methylation of Imprinted Genes in Growth-Restricted Placentas. Reprod. Sci. 18, 1111–1117 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719111404611

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719111404611

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