B3092 - epigenetic heritability of child psychiatric phenotypes - 04/04/2018

B number: 
B3092
Principal applicant name: 
Esther Walton | University of Bristol - IEU
Co-applicants: 
Dr Charlotte Cecil, Alexander Neumann
Title of project: 
epigenetic heritability of child psychiatric phenotypes
Proposal summary: 

Growing evidence points to a role of epigenetic alterations in the development of psychiatric disorders. DNA methylation – an epigenetic mechanism sensitive to both genetic and environmental influences – has been linked to a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems in childhood, including anxiety, depression, conduct problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity. However, findings to date have been primarily drawn from candidate gene studies, or EWAS studies investigating single sites across the genome. As a result, how much of the variance in psychiatric phenotypes is collectively explained by the methylome as a whole is currently unknown.

Impact of research: 
Findings could lend novel insights into the epigenetic landscape of child psychiatric symptoms.
Date proposal received: 
Thursday, 29 March, 2018
Keywords: 
Mental health - Psychology, Psychiatry, Cognition, Behaviour - e.g. antisocial behaviour, risk behaviour, etc., Mental health, Microarrays, Statistical methods, Cognition - cognitive function, Epigenetics, Genetics, Methods - e.g. cross cohort analysis, data mining, mendelian randomisation, etc.