Background: Different severities of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cause different levels of respiratory symptoms and systemic inflammation. DNA methylation, a heritable epigenetic process, also shows differential changes in different severities of COVID-19. DNA methylation is involved in regulating the activity of various immune cells and influences immune pathways associated with viral infections. It may also be involved in regulating the expression of genes associated with the progression of COVID-19.
Methods: In this study, a sophisticated machine-learning workflow was designed to analyze whole-blood DNA methylation data from COVID-19 patients with different severities versus healthy controls. We aimed to understand the role of DNA methylation in the development of COVID-19. The sample set contained 101 negative controls, 360 mildly infected individuals, and 113 severely infected individuals. Each sample involved 768,067 methylation sites. Three feature-ranking algorithms (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), light gradient-boosting machine (LightGBM), and Monte Carlo feature selection (MCFS)) were used to rank and filter out sites highly correlated with COVID-19. Based on the obtained ranking results, a high-performance classification model was constructed by combining the feature incremental approach with four classification algorithms (decision tree (DT), k-nearest neighbor (kNN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM)).
Results: Some essential methylation sites and decision rules were obtained.
Conclusions: The genes (, , and ) of some essential methylation sites were confirmed to play important roles in the immune system.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2811284 | DOI Listing |
Mol Biol Rep
January 2025
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Baylor Scott and White Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Temple, TX, USA.
Background: Brain intraparenchymal schwannoma is a rare clinical entity, generally curable with adequate resection.
Methods And Results: We describe a case in a male patient first presenting at 19 months of age, the youngest reported age for this lesion. It also appears to be the first case connected to a germline TSC2 p.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
DNA methylation is a crucial epigenetic modification that orchestrates chromatin remodelers that suppress transcription, and aberrations in DNA methylation result in a variety of conditions such as cancers and developmental disorders. While it is understood that methylation occurs at CpG-rich DNA regions, it is less understood how distinct methylation profiles are established within various cell types. In this work, we develop a molecular-transport model that depicts the genomic exploration of DNA methyltransferase within a multiscale DNA environment, incorporating biologically relevant factors like methylation rate and CpG density to predict how patterns are established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTheor Appl Genet
January 2025
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
Zebularine-treated wheat uncovered a phenotype with characteristics of an epigenetically regulated trait, but major chromosomal aberrations, not DNA methylation changes, are the cause, making zebularine unsuitable for epigenetic breeding. Breeding to identify disease-resistant and climate-tolerant high-yielding wheats has led to yield increases over many years, but new hardy, higher yielding varieties are still needed to improve food security in the face of climate change. Traditional breeding to develop new cultivars of wheat is a lengthy process taking more than seven years from the initial cross to cultivar release.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLab Chip
January 2025
Department of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta 4259, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan.
DNA methylation is a crucial epigenetic modification used as a biomarker for early cancer progression. However, existing methods for DNA methylation analysis are complex, time-consuming, and prone to DNA degradation. This work demonstrates selective capture of unmethylated DNAs using ZnO nanowires without chemical or biological modifications, thereby concentrating methylated DNA, particularly those with high methylation levels that can predict cancer risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Environ Microbiol
January 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, Minnesota State University Mankato, Mankato, Minnesota, USA.
Unlabelled: causes bacterial cold-water disease (BCWD) in salmonids and other fish, resulting in substantial economic losses in aquaculture worldwide. The mechanisms uses to cause disease are poorly understood. Despite considerable effort, most strains of have resisted attempts at genetic manipulation.
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