1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

A whole lifespan mouse multi-tissue DNA methylation clock

  1. Margarita V Meer
  2. Dmitriy I Podolskiy
  3. Alexander Tyshkovskiy
  4. Vadim N Gladyshev  Is a corresponding author
  1. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40675
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  1. Margarita V Meer
  2. Dmitriy I Podolskiy
  3. Alexander Tyshkovskiy
  4. Vadim N Gladyshev
(2018)
A whole lifespan mouse multi-tissue DNA methylation clock
eLife 7:e40675.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40675
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Abstract

Age predictors based on DNA methylation levels at a small set of CpG sites, DNAm clocks, have been developed for humans and extended to several other species. Three currently available versions of mouse DNAm clocks were either created for individual tissues or tuned towards young ages. Here, we constructed a robust multi-tissue age predictor based on 435 CpG sites, which covers the entire mouse lifespan and remains unbiased with respect to any particular age group. It can successfully detect the effects of certain lifespan-modulating interventions on DNAm age as well as the rejuvenation effect related to the transition from fibroblasts to iPSCs. We have carried out comparative analyses of available mouse DNAm clocks, which revealed their broad applicability, but also certain limitations to the use of tissue-specific and multi-tissue age predictors. Together, these tools should help address diverse questions in aging research.

Data availability

Sequencing data have been deposited in GEO under accession code GSE121141

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Margarita V Meer

    Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Dmitriy I Podolskiy

    Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Alexander Tyshkovskiy

    Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Vadim N Gladyshev

    Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    For correspondence
    vgladyshev@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0372-7016

Funding

National Institute on Aging (AG021518)

  • Vadim N Gladyshev

National Institute on Aging (AG047200)

  • Vadim N Gladyshev

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2018, Meer et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Margarita V Meer
  2. Dmitriy I Podolskiy
  3. Alexander Tyshkovskiy
  4. Vadim N Gladyshev
(2018)
A whole lifespan mouse multi-tissue DNA methylation clock
eLife 7:e40675.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40675

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40675

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