Association of season of birth with DNA methylation Event

Speaker: Dr Gabrielle Lockett

Description:

Season of birth can influence early-life development of allergy. Children born in autumn or winter are more likely to develop allergic disease or atopy, an effect thought to be mediated by vitamin D. However in plants, photoperiodic exposure has been demonstrated to alter DNA methylation and in mammals maternal photoperiodic exposure has been shown to alter foetal development. Thus altered DNA methylation, either via, or independent of, vitamin D exposure represents an alternative mechanism to explain the association between season of birth and risk of allergic disease. To test this, the correlations of season of birth with changes in DNA methylation was examined in the Isle of Wight birth cohort.

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