The genome- and system-wide response of DNA methylation to early life adversity and its implication on mental health

Abstract

Early life adversity is associated with long-tem impacts on behaviour and physical and mental health. The mechanisms mediating the impact of early life environment on the phenotype are proposed to involve a change in the state of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation and, as a consequence, in the stable programming of gene expression. Recent studies suggest that the changes in DNA methylation affect broad genomic regions, as well as peripheral tissues in addition to brain regions. Although the data are still scarce, it points to the possibility that DNA methylation is a mechanism of genome adaptation to signals from early life social environment. This modulation of the DNA methylation pattern is proposed to result in long-term impact on the phenotype that could become maladaptive under certain contexts later in life. This model has implications on our understanding of behavioural and mental health pathologies, as well as their diagnosis and therapeutics.

Keywords: DNA methylation; DNA methylation biomarkers; early life stress; epigenetics; socioeconomic status; stress response.