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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Genet.
Sec. Epigenomics and Epigenetics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1451150

Co-methylation Networks Associated with Cognition and Structural Brain Development During Adolescence

Provisionally accepted
Dawn Jensen Dawn Jensen 1*Jiayu Chen Jiayu Chen 1Jessica A Turner Jessica A Turner 2Julia M Stephen Julia M Stephen 3Yu-Ping Wang Yu-Ping Wang 4Tony W Wilson Tony W Wilson 5Vince D Calhoun Vince D Calhoun 1Jingyu Liu Jingyu Liu 1
  • 1 Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States
  • 2 Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, United States
  • 3 Mind Research Network (MRN), Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
  • 4 Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
  • 5 Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Typical adolescent neurodevelopment is marked by decreases in grey matter (GM) volume, increases in myelination, measured by fractional anisotropy (FA), and improvement in cognitive performance. To understand how epigenetic changes, methylation (DNAm) in particular, may be involved during this phase of development, we studied cognitive assessments, DNAm from saliva, and neuroimaging data from a longitudinal cohort of normally developing adolescents, aged nine to fourteen. We extracted networks of methylation with patterns of correlated change using a weighted gene correlation network analysis (WCGNA). Modules from these analyses, consisting of co-methylation networks, were then used in multivariate analyses with GM, FA, and cognitive measures to assess the nature of their relationships with cognitive improvement and brain development in adolescence. This longitudinal exploration of co-methylated networks revealed an increase in correlated epigenetic changes as subjects progressed into adolescence. Co-methylation networks enriched for pathways involved in neuronal systems, potassium channels, neurexins and neuroligins were both conserved across time as well as associated with maturation patterns in GM, FA, and cognition, revealing epigenetic mechanisms that could be involved in adolescent neural development.

    Keywords: Adolescent Development, Methylation, Neuroimaging epigenetics, co-methylation, Cognition, Brain Development

    Received: 18 Jun 2024; Accepted: 26 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jensen, Chen, Turner, Stephen, Wang, Wilson, Calhoun and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dawn Jensen, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States

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