Metastable Epiallele: Role of Epigenetic Variability for the Development of Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases
| Title | Metastable Epiallele: Role of Epigenetic Variability for the Development of Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases |
|---|---|
| Acronym | E-VarEndo |
| Start date | 2022-09-01 |
| End date | 2027-08-31 |
| Sponsor | European Research Council - Consolidator Grant (ERC-CoG) |
| Institution | Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
Associated cell lines
Project Description
Metastable epialleles are methylome-regions, which are non-genetically determined and set in early embryonic development. Animal models provided evidence for the role of DNA methylation variability at certain metastable epialleles for phenotype variation (e.g. body weight). Recently, metastable epialleles have been identified in humans. This project is focussing on the analysis of epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation, histone marks) of human metastable epialleles during hESC differentiation. Furthermore, it will be analyzed whether changes of key carbon-1 metabolites during differentiation affect DNA methylation patterning of metastable epialleles and if DNA methylation variability is leading to changes of gene function. Thereby, we want to gain new insights into the epigenetic regulation of metastable epialleles and its role for phenotype variation in humans.