Gut Microbiota as an Epigenetic Regulator: Pilot Study Based on Whole-Genome Methylation Analysis

Abstract

Epigenetics encompasses genomic modifications that are due to environmental factors and do not affect the nucleotide sequence. The gut microbiota has an important role in human metabolism and could be a significant environmental factor affecting our epigenome. To investigate the association of gut microbiota with epigenetic changes, we assessed pregnant women and selected the participants based on their predominant gut microbiota for a study on their postpartum methylation profile. Intriguingly, we found that blood DNA methylation patterns were associated with gut microbiota profiles. The gut microbiota profiles, with either Firmicutes or Bacteroidetes as a dominant group, correlated with differential methylation status of gene promoters functionally associated with cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, differential methylation of gene promoters linked to lipid metabolism and obesity was observed. For the first time, we report here a position of the predominant gut microbiota in epigenetic profiling, suggesting one potential mechanism in obesity with comorbidities, if proven in further in-depth studies.