Research Perspective Volume 2, Issue 2 pp 107—110

Figure 2. The Janus face of DNA methylation in aging. Early-life adversity-induced hypomethylation centers on CpG residues mapping to DNA-binding sites of the epigenetic reader and writer MeCP2 (red lollipops). Once established, these methylation landmarks are maintained and do not undergo further age-associated changes in methylation. In contrast, age-associated hypomethylation maps across the entire AVP locus without any obvious pattern or preference for potential DNA-binding sites (black and white lollipops). In this regard, age-associated hypomethylation appears to behave stochastically, while early-life adversity is targeted.