Research and Development, Beiersdorf AG, Hamburg, Germany.
PLoS Genet. 2010 May 27;6(5):e1000971. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000971.
Epigenetic changes are widely considered to play an important role in aging, but experimental evidence to support this hypothesis has been scarce. We have used array-based analysis to determine genome-scale DNA methylation patterns from human skin samples and to investigate the effects of aging, chronic sun exposure, and tissue variation. Our results reveal a high degree of tissue specificity in the methylation patterns and also showed very little interindividual variation within tissues. Data stratification by age revealed that DNA from older individuals was characterized by a specific hypermethylation pattern affecting less than 1% of the markers analyzed. Interestingly, stratification by sun exposure produced a fundamentally different pattern with a significant trend towards hypomethylation. Our results thus identify defined age-related DNA methylation changes and suggest that these alterations might contribute to the phenotypic changes associated with skin aging.
表观遗传变化被广泛认为在衰老过程中发挥重要作用，但支持这一假说的实验证据一直很少。我们使用基于阵列的分析方法从人类皮肤样本中确定全基因组 DNA 甲基化模式，并研究衰老、慢性阳光暴露和组织变异的影响。我们的研究结果揭示了甲基化模式的高度组织特异性，并且在组织内个体间的差异也非常小。按年龄进行数据分层揭示了来自老年人的 DNA 具有特定的高甲基化模式，这种模式影响不到分析的标记物的 1%。有趣的是，按阳光暴露进行分层产生了一种根本不同的模式，表现出明显的去甲基化趋势。因此，我们的研究结果确定了与年龄相关的特定 DNA 甲基化变化，并表明这些改变可能导致与皮肤衰老相关的表型变化。
