Human stem cells may serve as useful models for delineating the molecular effects of EtOH, especially given the ethical issues of administering alcohol to pregnant women. Alcohol researchers have already taken advantage of these models by observing the consequences of EtOH administration on stem cell differentiation (Garic et al., 2011; Miranda, 2012; Nash et al., 2012; Palmer et al., 2012; Vangipuram and Lyman, 2012). However, genome and methylome-wide studies of EtOH's effects on hESCs have not been reported. Here we show that EtOH can induce DNA methylomic changes in hESCs that may have a significant impact on gene regulatory mechanisms potentially involved in stem cell maintenance and differentiation, and by extension, in proper embryo development processes.
