AUTHOR=Imm Jennifer , Pishva Ehsan , Ali Muhammadd , Kerrigan Talitha L. , Jeffries Aaron , Burrage Joe , Glaab Enrico , Cope Emma L. , Jones Kimberley M. , Allen Nicholas D. , Lunnon Katie TITLE=Characterization of DNA Methylomic Signatures in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells During Neuronal Differentiation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.647981 DOI=10.3389/fcell.2021.647981 ISSN=2296-634X ABSTRACT=

In development, differentiation from a pluripotent state results in global epigenetic changes, although the extent to which this occurs in induced pluripotent stem cell-based neuronal models has not been extensively characterized. In the present study, induced pluripotent stem cell colonies (33Qn1 line) were differentiated and collected at four time-points, with DNA methylation assessed using the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation EPIC BeadChip array. Dynamic changes in DNA methylation occurring during differentiation were investigated using a data-driven trajectory inference method. We identified a large number of Bonferroni-significant loci that showed progressive alterations in DNA methylation during neuronal differentiation. A gene–gene interaction network analysis identified 60 densely connected genes that were influential in the differentiation of neurons, with STAT3 being the gene with the highest connectivity.