Human blood DNA methylation patterns reflect individual lifestyle

Ireen Klemp; Anne Hoffmann; Luise Müller; Tobias Hagemann; Kathrin Horn; Kerstin Rohde‐Zimmermann; Anke Tönjes; Joachim Thiery; Markus Löffler; Ralph Burkhardt; Yvonne Böttcher; Michael Stümvoll; Matthias Blüher; Knut Krohn; Markus R. Scholz; Ronny Baber; Paul W. Franks; Peter Louis Kovacs; Maria Keller

doi:10.1101/2021.12.16.21267895

Genetic & Genomic MedicinemedRxivDec 16, 2021

Preprint

Human blood DNA methylation patterns reflect individual lifestyle

Ireen Klemp, Anne Hoffmann iD, Luise Müller iD, Tobias Hagemann iD, Kathrin Horn, Kerstin Rohde‐Zimmermann iD, Anke Tönjes iD, Joachim Thiery iD, Markus Löffler iD, Ralph Burkhardt iD, Yvonne Böttcher iD, Michael Stümvoll iD, Matthias Blüher iD, Knut Krohn iD, Markus R. Scholz iD, Ronny Baber iD, Paul W. Franks iD, Peter Louis Kovacs iD, Maria Keller iD

Abstract

Obesity is driven by modifiable lifestyle factors whose effects may be mediated by epigenetics. Therefore, we investigated lifestyle effects (diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol) on blood DNA methylation in participants of the LIFE-Adult study, a well-characterized population-based cohort from Germany. Fifty subjects with an extremely healthy and 50 with an extremely unhealthy lifestyle were selected for genome-wide DNA methylation analysis in blood samples. Whereas obesity was only marginally related to variability in DNA methylation pattern, comparisons between lifestyle categories resulted in 145 Differentially Methylated Positions (DMPs) and 4682 Differentially Methylated Regions (DMRs) annotated to 4426 unique genes. Intersection analysis showed that diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol intake are equally contributing to the observed differences, which particularly affects pathways related to glutamatergic synapse and axon guidance. DNA methylation patterns help discriminate individuals with a healthy vs. unhealthy lifestyle, which may mask subtle methylation differences derived from obesity.

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