DNA methylation, the early-life social environment and behavioral disorders

One of the outstanding questions in behavioral disorders is untangling the complex relationship between nurture and nature. Although epidemiological data provide evidence that there is an interaction between genetics (nature) and the social and physical environments (nurture) in a spectrum of behavioral disorders, the main open question remains the mechanism. Emerging data support the hypothesis that DNA methylation, a covalent modification of the DNA molecule that is a component of its chemical structure, serves as an interface between the dynamic environment and the fixed genome. We propose that modulation of DNA methylation in response to environmental cues early in life serves as a mechanism of life-long genome adaptation. Under certain contexts, this adaptation can turn maladaptive resulting in behavioral disorders. This hypothesis has important implications on understanding, predicting, preventing, and treating behavioral disorders including autism that will be discussed.

• Publication year

  2011

• Venue

  Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders

• Publication date

  2011-03-11

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1007/s11689-011-9079-2PMID 21484196PMCID 3261271
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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