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Identification of the Relationship Between DNA Methylation of Circadian Rhythm Genes and Obesity

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Abstract

In children, teenagers, and young adults, environmental factors and genetic modifications have contributed to the development of obesity. There is a close relationship between obesity and circadian rhythm. To understand the role of CLOCK and BMAL1 in obesity, we analyzed the methylation status of CLOCK and BMAL1 in obese and control subjects. In this paper, we analyzed the methylation status of the CLOCK and BMAL1 genes by using MS-HRM in a total of 55 obese and 54 control subjects. In our study, we demonstrated that the level of fasting glucose and the level of HDL-cholesterol were associated with CLOCK methylation in obesity. We also showed a significant association between BMAL1 gene methylation and waist and hip circumference in obese subjects. This is the first study that shows the methylation of BMAL1 is associated with the obese phenotype. However, we could not show a direct association between CLOCK methylation and the obese phenotype. In this paper, a novel epigenetic interaction between circadian clock genes and obesity was demonstrated.

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Data Availability

The genetics data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author (RK).

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Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work. We would like to thank all the participants involved in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Mersin 10, Nicosia, 99138, Turkey

    Tirah Galaya Jesse & Rasime Kalkan

  2. Faculty of Pharmacy, Eastern Mediterranean University, Mersin 10, Famagusta, 99628, Turkey

    Eda Becer

  3. Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University, Mersin 10, Guzelyurt, 99138, Turkey

    Rasime Kalkan

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  1. Tirah Galaya Jesse
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Contributions

Conceptualization: RK; Methodology: RK and TGJ; Software: RK and TGJ; Validation: RK and TGJ; Formal analysis: RK, TGJ, and EB; Investigation: RK and TGJ; Resources: RK, TGJ, and EB; Data curation: RK, TGJ, and EB; Writing—original draft preparation: RK, TGJ, and EB; Writing—review and editing: RK, TGJ, and EB; Visualization: RK, TGJ, and EB; Supervision: R.K.; Project administration: RK; Funding acquisition: RK.

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Correspondence to Rasime Kalkan.

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All subjects signed written consent forms after being fully informed. The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Near East University and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (YDU-2021/96–1425).

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Jesse, T.G., Becer, E. & Kalkan, R. Identification of the Relationship Between DNA Methylation of Circadian Rhythm Genes and Obesity. Biochem Genet 62, 281–293 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-023-10415-8

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