2. Academic Validation
  3. Cytosine modifications exhibit circadian oscillations that are involved in epigenetic diversity and aging

Cytosine modifications exhibit circadian oscillations that are involved in epigenetic diversity and aging

  • Nat Commun. 2018 Feb 13;9(1):644. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03073-7.
Gabriel Oh 1,  Sasha Ebrahimi 1,  Matthew Carlucci 1,  Aiping Zhang 1,  Akhil Nair 1,  Daniel E Groot 1,  Viviane Labrie 1 2,  Peixin Jia 1,  Edward S Oh 1,  Richie H Jeremian 1,  Miki Susic 1,  Tenjin C Shrestha 3 4,  Martin R Ralph 4,  Juozas Gordevičius 5 6,  Karolis Koncevičius 5 6,  Art Petronis 7 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 The Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory, The Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada.
  • 2 Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA.
  • 3 Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G5, Canada.
  • 4 Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G5, Canada.
  • 5 Institute of Biotechnology, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LT-10257, Lithuania.
  • 6 Institute of Data Science and Digital Technologies, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LT-08663, Lithuania.
  • 7 The Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory, The Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada. [email protected].
  • 8 Institute of Biotechnology, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LT-10257, Lithuania. [email protected].
PMID: 29440637 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03073-7
Abstract

Circadian rhythmicity governs a remarkable array of fundamental biological functions and is mediated by cyclical transcriptomic and proteomic activities. Epigenetic factors are also involved in this circadian machinery; however, despite extensive efforts, detection and characterization of circadian cytosine modifications at the nucleotide level have remained elusive. In this study, we report that a large proportion of epigenetically variable cytosines show a circadian pattern in their modification status in mice. Importantly, the cytosines with circadian epigenetic oscillations significantly overlap with the cytosines exhibiting age-related changes in their modification status. Our findings suggest that evolutionary advantageous processes such as circadian rhythmicity can also contribute to an organism's deterioration.

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