Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 3N1, Canada; email:
Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 3N1, Canada.
Annu Rev Psychol. 2018 Jan 4;69:459-485. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033653. Epub 2017 Oct 16.
The interplay of genetically driven biological processes and environmental factors is a key driver of research questions spanning multiple areas of psychology. A nascent area of research focuses on the utility of epigenetic marks in capturing this intersection of genes and environment, as epigenetic mechanisms are both tightly linked to the genome and environmentally responsive. Advances over the past 10 years have allowed large-scale assessment of one epigenetic mark in particular, DNA methylation, in human populations, and the examination of DNA methylation is becoming increasingly common in psychological studies. In this review, we briefly outline some principles of epigenetics, focusing on highlighting important considerations unique to DNA methylation studies to guide psychologists in incorporating DNA methylation into a project. We discuss study design and biological and analytical considerations and conclude by discussing interpretability of epigenetic findings and how these important factors are currently being applied across areas of psychology.
遗传驱动的生物过程和环境因素的相互作用是跨多个心理学领域研究问题的关键驱动因素。一个新兴的研究领域集中在表观遗传标记在捕捉基因与环境的这种交叉点上的效用，因为表观遗传机制与基因组紧密相连，并且对环境有反应。在过去 10 年中取得的进展使得人们能够大规模评估人类群体中特定的一种表观遗传标记，即 DNA 甲基化，并且 DNA 甲基化分析在心理学研究中变得越来越普遍。在这篇综述中，我们简要概述了一些表观遗传学的原理，重点强调了 DNA 甲基化研究中独特的重要考虑因素，以指导心理学家将 DNA 甲基化纳入项目中。我们讨论了研究设计以及生物学和分析方面的考虑因素，并最后讨论了表观遗传发现的可解释性以及这些重要因素如何在心理学各个领域得到应用。
