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Recent Progress in Functional Genomic Studies of Depression and Suicide

  • Epigenetics (J Davie, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Genetic Medicine Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

According to the WHO approximately 350 million individuals worldwide are affected by depression, making it the global leading cause of disability. Depression also closely associates with suicide. The last three decades have seen a wealth of genetic studies aiming to identify genes associated with depression and suicidal behavior, whereas more recent advances in our understanding of how the genome is functionally regulated, coupled with developments in high-throughput sequencing methods, have led to an increased capacity and interest in the study of functional genomics. These studies provide us with a unique opportunity to understand how the brain is regulated and to more directly investigate genomic processes that may be at fault in the depressed and suicidal brain. In this review, we discuss recent advances in studies investigating transcriptomic and epigenomic studies of depression and suicide.

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Abbreviations

GWAS:

Genome-wide association studies

GEWIS:

Genome-environment-wide interaction studies

mCH:

Non-CpG methylation

MDD:

Major depression

dlPFC:

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

SNP:

Single nucleotide polymorphism

UTR:

Untranslated region

ncRNA:

Non-coding RNA

miRNA:

MicroRNA

LCM:

Laser capture microdissection

FACS:

Fluorescence-activated cell sorting

MBD-seq:

Methyl-CpG-binding domain protein sequencing

DMRs:

Differentially methylated regions

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  1. McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Frank B Common Pavilion, Room F-3125 6875, Boulevard LaSalle Montreal, Quebec, H4H 1R3, Canada

    Daniel Almeida & Gustavo Turecki

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Almeida, D., Turecki, G. Recent Progress in Functional Genomic Studies of Depression and Suicide. Curr Genet Med Rep 5, 22–34 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40142-017-0112-y

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