Pyrosequencing analysis of R1-R6 indicated that downregulation of Mecp2e1 and upregulation of Mecp2e2 from D0 to D2 were associated with slight, but significant demethylation of Mecp2 promoter R1 (2.3%, P <0.05). Similarly, upregulation of Mecp2e1 and downregulation of Mecp2e2 from D2 to D8 were associated with hypermethylation of Mecp2 intron 1 R5 (2.4%, P <0.01) (Figure 3B). Detected expression changes in Mecp2 isoforms from D0 to D8 were associated with demethylation of Mecp2 promoter R1 (2.6%, P <0.05), and hypermethylation of Mecp2 intron 1 R4 (4.6%, P <0.05). In all cases, the differences in average percentage methylation between D0, D2 and D8 were relatively small, but statistically significant and ranging between 2 to 5%. Previous reports have shown that an increase in the overall MECP2 promoter methylation by approximately 2.0 to 2.5% in male autistic patients correlates with significantly reduced MECP2 expression levels [2]. In mouse brain exposed to maternal separation and stress, DNA methylation changes that are as little as 2 to 5% at individual CpG sites of the Mecp2 promoter are associated with significantly reduced MeCP2 expression [20].
