Now, a study published in Nature Metabolism, led by Dr. Dana Avrahami-Tzfati of Hebrew University with Dr. Elisabetta Manduchi and Prof. Klaus Kaestner of the University of Pennsylvania, reports how the body’s insulin-producing cells adapt across a lifetime and how this adaptive response is altered in type 2 diabetes.

Pancreatic beta cells secrete insulin to regulate blood glucose and must continually adjust to changing metabolic demands. Using cell-type-specific methylome data from the Human Pancreas Analysis Program, the researchers mapped the epigenomic patterns underlying this adaptation, focusing on DNA methylation, a relatively stable molecular mark that helps control gene activity over time.