Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Smyth, Laura J.
• Cruise, Sharon M.
• Tang, Jianjun
• Young, Ian
• McGuinness, Bernadette
• Kee, Frank
• McKnight, Amy Jayne

Titel

Differential methylation in CD44 and SEC23A is associated with time preference in older individuals

Ist Teil von

• Economics and human biology, 2023-04, Vol.49, p.101233-101233, Article 101233

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Time preference is a measure used to ascertain the level of which individuals prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards. We explored how an individual’s time preference associates with their epigenetic profile. Time preferences were ascertained by asking participants of the Northern Ireland COhort for the Longitudinal study of Ageing to make a series of choices between two hypothetical income scenarios. From these, eight ‘time preference’ categories were derived, ranging from “patient” to “impatient” on an ordinal scale. The Infinium High Density Methylation Assay, MethylationEPIC (Illumina) was used to evaluate the status of 862,927 CpGs. Time preference and DNA methylation data were obtained for 1648 individuals. Four analyses were conducted, assessing the methylation patterns at single site resolution between patient and impatient individuals using two adjustment models. In this discovery cohort analysis, two CpG sites were identified with significantly different levels of methylation (p < 9 × 10-8) between the individuals allocated to the patient group and the remaining population following adjustment for covariates; cg08845621 within CD44 and cg18127619 within SEC23A. Neither of these genes have previously been linked to time preference. Epigenetic modifications have not previously been linked to time preference using a population cohort but they may represent important biomarkers of accumulated, complex determinants of this trait. Further analysis is warranted of both the top-ranked results and of DNA methylation as an important link between measurable biomarkers and health behaviours. •Epigenetics is at the frontier of interdisciplinary population health research.•Novel population-based analysis exploring how behaviour relates to biology.•Significant methylation changes in CD44 & SEC23A associate with time preference.•Alterations in DNA methylation may represent valuable biomarkers of time preference.