Publication Date:
2014-05-03
Description:
Ancient DNA sequencing has recently provided high-coverage archaic human genomes. However, the evolution of epigenetic regulation along the human lineage remains largely unexplored. We reconstructed the full DNA methylation maps of the Neandertal and the Denisovan by harnessing the natural degradation processes of methylated and unmethylated cytosines. Comparing these ancient methylation maps to those of present-day humans, we identified ~2000 differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Particularly, we found substantial methylation changes in the HOXD cluster that may explain anatomical differences between archaic and present-day humans. Additionally, we found that DMRs are significantly more likely to be associated with diseases. This study provides insight into the epigenetic landscape of our closest evolutionary relatives and opens a window to explore the epigenomes of extinct species.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gokhman, David -- Lavi, Eitan -- Prufer, Kay -- Fraga, Mario F -- Riancho, Jose A -- Kelso, Janet -- Paabo, Svante -- Meshorer, Eran -- Carmel, Liran -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 May 2;344(6183):523-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1250368. Epub 2014 Apr 17.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24786081" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*DNA Methylation
;
*Epigenesis, Genetic
;
*Evolution, Molecular
;
*Genome, Human
;
Humans
;
Neanderthals/*genetics
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
