Bangladeshi women living in UK: Buccal cell DNA methylation analysis

Prior studies of Bangladeshi migrants in the UK revealed that reproductive function is adaptive, responding to different environments during childhood by adjusting the timing of puberty, reproductive lifespan and overall reproductive function. Here we aimed to understand the basis of this plasticity. Our goals were to establish whether epigenetic mechanisms play a role in the plasticity of this adaptive reproductive phenotype. We hypothesized that women growing up in Bangladesh would have distinct DNA methylation signatures compared to those who moved to the UK at a young age or were born to Bangladeshi parents in the UK. Some of these environmentally induced epigenetic differences would be detected in buccal cell DNA and reflect the divergent gene expression responsible for the altered reproductive function. The women of the study who grew up in Bangladesh were relatively affluent, well-nourished and rarely performed manual work, but a significant confounding factor in their early life was the level of disease load presenting a chronic immune challenge buccal cell DNA samples from 31 adult Bangladeshi women (age 28.1 ± 5.0) living in London, UK were interogated for their methylation levels using Illumina-MethylationEpic arrays. Sample #12 loaded twice on the array. Quality controls following analysis of the raw data led to the removal of data derived from samples #6, #7 and #10. Usable data: Bangladeshi women experienced their childhoods in Bangladesh (n=15), or in the UK (n=13).