Identification and Characterization of the Epigenome and Transcriptome in Human Neonates

We performed reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) on 137 umbilical cord blood (UCB) samples and 158 parental peripheral blood (PPB) samples from nuclear families with either singletons or twins. The samples were classified into five groups based on the mode of conception: spontaneous (CTRL), IVF-ET, IVF-FET, ICSI-ET and ICSI-FET. There were no significant differences in the clinical features of the neonates among the different groups; in addition, maternal ages were under 35 years old and parental body mass index (BMI) values were comparable in general. In addition, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) on 33 UCB samples to examine histone modifications (H3K4me1, H3K4me3, H3K27ac, and H3K27me3) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) on 32 UCB samples to examine the transcriptomes of neonates. RRBS, ChIP-seq (H3K4me1, H3K4me3, H3K27ac, H3K27me3), and RNA-seq in umbilical cord blood of neonates and peripheral blood of their parents.