Harnessing epigenetics to study human evolution

Yoav Mathov; Daniel Batyrev; Eran Meshorer; Liran Carmel

doi:10.1016/j.gde.2020.05.023

Harnessing epigenetics to study human evolution

Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2020 Jun:62:23-29. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2020.05.023. Epub 2020 Jun 20.

Authors

Yoav Mathov¹, Daniel Batyrev¹, Eran Meshorer², Liran Carmel³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 9190400, Israel; The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190400, Israel.
² Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 9190400, Israel; The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190400, Israel. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 9190400, Israel. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 32574964
DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2020.05.023

Abstract

Recent advances in ancient DNA extraction and high-throughput sequencing technologies enabled the high-quality sequencing of archaic genomes, including the Neanderthal and the Denisovan. While comparisons with modern humans revealed both archaic-specific and human-specific sequence changes, in the absence of gene expression information, understanding the functional implications of such genetic variations remains a major challenge. To study gene regulation in archaic humans, epigenetic research comes to our aid. DNA methylation, which is highly correlated with transcription, can be directly measured in modern samples, as well as reconstructed in ancient samples. This puts DNA methylation as a natural basis for comparative epigenetics between modern humans, archaic humans and nonhuman primates.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

DNA Methylation*
Epigenesis, Genetic*
Evolution, Molecular*
Genetic Variation*
Genome, Human*
Humans