Variation of global DNA methylation levels with age and in autistic children.

Background: The change in epigenetic signatures, in particular DNA methylation, has been proposed as risk markers for various age-related diseases. However, the course of variation in methylation levels with age, the difference in methylation between genders, and methylation-disease association at the whole genome level is unclear. In the present study, genome-wide methylation levels in DNA extracted from peripheral blood for 2116 healthy Chinese in the 2-97 age range and 280 autistic trios were examined using the fluorescence polarization-based genome-wide DNA methylation quantification method developed by us.