Cited by 669Epigenetics and DNA MethylationNeurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanismsMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Neuronal activity modifies the DNA methylation landscape in the adult brain

Open access
Guo, Junjie U, Ma, Dengke K, Mo, Huan, Ball, Madeleine P, Jang, Mi-Hyeon, Bonaguidi, Michael A, Balazer, Jacob A, Eaves, Hugh L +6 more·2011·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

DNA methylation has been traditionally viewed as a highly stable epigenetic mark in postmitotic cells. However, postnatal brains appear to show stimulus-induced methylation changes, at least in a few identified CpG dinucleotides. How extensively the neuronal DNA methylome is regulated by neuronal activity is unknown. Using a next-generation sequencing-based method for genome-wide analysis at single-nucleotide resolution, we quantitatively compared the CpG methylation landscape of adult mouse dentate granule neurons in vivo before and after synchronous neuronal activation. About 1.4% of 219,991 CpGs measured showed rapid active demethylation or de novo methylation. Some modifications remained stable for at least 24 h. These activity-modified CpGs showed a broad genomic distribution with significant enrichment in low-CpG density regions, and were associated with brain-specific genes related to neuronal plasticity. Our study implicates modification of the neuronal DNA methylome as a previously underappreciated mechanism for activity-dependent epigenetic regulation in the adult nervous system.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nn.2900

Cites

51 of 51 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Guo, J. U., Ma, D. K., Mo, H., Ball, M. P., Jang, M.-H., Bonaguidi, M. A., Balazer, J. A., Eaves, H. L., Xie, B., Ford, E., Zhang, K., Ming, G.-L., Gao, Y., & Song, H.
Affiliations
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
  • Proofpoint (United States) (US)
  • Lieber Institute for Brain Development (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
  • Gao, Yuan
  • Song, Hongjun
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2011-08-28
Volume
14
Issue
10
Pages
1345-1351
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W2064756496
Cited by
669
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 62 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 52 · 2014: 74 · 2013: 65 · 2012: 46
FWCI
24.26
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute on Aging (AG 024984, R01AG024984)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R00MH090115, K99MH090115)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA025779)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 048271, R01NS047344, NS 047344, R01NS048271, R37NS047344, R56NS047344)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD069184, HD069184)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
DNA methylation, neuronal activity, dentate gyrus granule cells, CpG methylation, demethylation, de novo methylation, adult brain, neuroplasticity, brain-specific genes
MeSH terms
Animals, Chromosome Mapping, Gene Expression Regulation, Hippocampus, Molecular Sequence Data, Motor Activity, Neurons, Physical Conditioning, Animal, Statistics as Topic, CpG Islands, DNA Methylation, Genomics, Mice, Epigenomics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review