Prolonged fasting and glucocorticoid exposure drive dynamic DNA methylation in northern elephant seals.

ABSTRACT: Northern elephant seals experience prolonged fasting while breeding, molting and undergoing postnatal development. Fasting elephant seals adjust neuroendocrine function and gene expression to cope with potentially detrimental effects associated with extended fasting. DNA methylation alters gene expression by modulating accessibility to regions necessary to initiate transcription. The effect of fasting and glucocorticoids on DNA methylation in elephant seals is understudied. We evaluated whether fasting alters global blood DNA methylation, the potential correlation between increased glucocorticoids and methylation, and the effects of glucocorticoids on DNA methylation in cultured northern elephant seal muscle cells. We found that fasting transiently increases blood DNA methylation and that

SUBMITTER: Gibson EF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12319411 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature