Paternal epigenetic association with infant birth weight
Principal Investigator: Syed Asad Ali
Co-PI: Junaid Iqbal, Zehra Jamil, Muhammad Nouman, Azhar Hussain
Funded by: Wellcome Leap
Project duration: 15 months
Project sites: Matiari and AKU, Karachi, Pakistan. Bangladesh, Zambiya and Senegal
Primary Objective: To determine if the paternal epigenome contributes to children’s birthweight in a high malnutrition endemic setting as assessed by comparing paternal, maternal, placental, and fetal DNA methylation profiles in low birth weight (LBW) and normal birth weight (NBW) cohorts. These signatures will be validated in their respective sibling methylation profiles.
Secondary Objectives:
- To determine the contribution of paternal and maternal imprinting on the placenta and compare the LBW and NBW cohorts.
- To determine the contribution of paternal and maternal imprinting on the neonate’s methylation profile and compare the LBW and NBW cohorts.
- To determine the similarity between epigenetic profiling of neonates and their placenta and compare the LBW and NBW cohorts.
- To determine the paternal and maternal influence on the fetal DNA methylation profile and compare LBW and NBW cohorts.
- To determine epigenetic signatures of LBW cases and compare them to NBW controls.
- To determine epigenetic signatures of fathers of LBW cases and compare them with the fathers of NBW controls.
- To determine the correlation between differentially methylated CpG islands of relevant genes identified through the methylation array and the gene expression profile.
