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Prenatal androgen exposure and transgenerational susceptibility to polycystic ovary syndrome

ABSTRACT: The effects of how obesity and elevated androgen levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affect their offspring are unclear. We found that daughters of PCOS mothers are more likely to be diagnosed with PCOS in a Swedish nationwide register-based cohort and a clinical case-control study from Chile. Further, female mice (F0) with PCOS-like traits induced by late gestation injection of dihydrotestosterone, with and without obesity, produced female F1–F3 offspring with a PCOS-like reproductive and metabolic phenotypes. Sequencing of single MII oocytes from F1–F3 offspring revealed common and unique altered gene expression across all generations. Notably, four genes were also differentially expressed in serum samples from daughters in the case-control study and unrelated women with PCOS. Our findings provide evidence of transgenerational effects in female offspring of PCOS mothers and identify possible candidate genes for the prediction of a PCOS phenotype in future generations.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE133100 | GEO | 2019/10/30

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Background: DNA methylation (DNAme) erasure and reacquisition occurs during prenatal male germ cell development; some further remodelling takes place after birth during spermatogenesis. Environmental insults during germline epigenetic reprogramming may affect DNAme, presenting a potential mechanism for transmission of environmental exposures across multiple generations. Objectives: We investigated how germ cell DNAme is impacted by lifetime exposures to diets containing either low or high, clinically relevant, levels of the methyl donor folic acid and whether resulting DNAme alterations were inherited in germ cells of male offspring of subsequent generations. Materials and Methods: Female mice were placed on a 7-fold folic acid deficient (7FD) and 10- or 20-fold supplemented (10FS and 20FS) diets before and during pregnancy. Resulting F1 litters were weaned on the respective diets. F2 and F3 males received control diets. Genome-wide DNAme was assessed in F1 spermatogonia, and in F1, F2 and F3 sperm. Results: In F1 germ cells, a greater number of differentially methylated cytosines (DMCs) was observed in spermatogonia as compared with F1 sperm for all folic acid diets. DMCs were lower in number in F2 versus F1 sperm, while an unexpected increase was found in F3 sperm. DMCs were predominantly hypomethylated, with genes in neurodevelopmental pathways commonly affected in F1, F2 and F3 male germ cells. While no DMCs were found to be inherited inter- or transgenerationally, we observed over-representation of repetitive elements, particularly young LINEs. Discussion and Conclusion: These results suggest that the prenatal window is the time most susceptible to folate-induced alterations in sperm DNAme in male germ cells. Altered methylation of specific sites in F1 sperm was not present in later generations. However, the finding of hypomethylated young LINE1 elements in sperm from F1 to F3 males provides insight into potential mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance of the effects of folate deficiency and supplementation.

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Prenatal androgen exposure and transgenerational susceptibility to polycystic ovary syndrome

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