A Comprehensive Map of Epigenetic Inheritance in Mice
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DNA methylation has been shown to mediate the effects of both genotype and the environment on a variety of physiologically relevant phenotypes and is capable of being inherited in a multi-generational manner . Thus, the epigenome is an optimal candidate to help explain the vast number of heritable diseases and phenotypes which report a limited genetic contribution through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). An understanding of the relationship between the genome, epigenome, and transcriptome will help to determine the role played by epigenetics in the etiology of these diseases . Here, we use the Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse model and ONT sequencing to examine the relationship between genetic strain differences, DNA methylation, and gene expression. This analytical framework enables the identification of genomic loci with DNA methylation and gene expression controlled a wide range of complex inheritance patterns.