Project description:Maternal nutrition can induce modifications in the epigenome of the fetus, resulting in gene expression alterations and impacting future performance. Epigenetic changes are related to nutrition via the one carbon cycle, which involves aminoacid methionine. We hypothesized that an increased dietary methionine in beef cows during early gestation will impact the whole-genome DNA methylation and transcriptome of the offspring.
Project description:Maternal nutrition can induce modifications in the epigenome of the fetus, resulting in gene expression alterations and impacting future performance. Epigenetic changes are related to nutrition via the one carbon cycle, which involves aminoacid methionine. We hypothesized that an increased dietary methionine in beef cows during early gestation will impact the whole-genome DNA methylation and transcriptome of the offspring.
Project description:Studies have indicated that altered maternal micronutrients and vitamins influence the development and susceptibility of newborns to chronic diseases. Among these, folic acid (FA) plays a key role in the synthesis and repair of DNA, along with maintenance of epigenetic DNA methylation. Deficiency of FA has been associated with the pathogenesis of neural tube defects. Since FA can modulate DNA methylation and affect gene expression, we investigated the effect of gestational FA supplementation on the expression of genes in the offspring brain. Our results suggest that a maternal ten-fold increase in FA supplementation alters the expression and dysregulates a number of genes in the offspring brain, including many involved in development. While a number of genes that were dysregulated were common to both male and female pups, there were sex differences in gene expression changes. C57BL/6J female mice were separated into two groups of ten mice and supplemented with a custom diet. One week prior to mating the low-dose group of female mice were fed a custom AIN-93G amino acidM-bM-^@M-^Sbased diet (Research Diet, Inc. New-Brunswick, NJ), with FA at 0.4 mg/kg, while the high-dose group received FA at 4 mg/kg diet. Tissues from the cerebral hemisphere of three independent pups of same gender were pooled together. A total of three microarray gene expression studies have been performed (0.4mg/kg or 4mg/kg both male and female) and the mean was used for comparison.
Project description:Studies have indicated that altered maternal micronutrients and vitamins influence the development and susceptibility of newborns to chronic diseases. Among these, folic acid (FA) plays a key role in the synthesis and repair of DNA, along with maintenance of epigenetic DNA methylation. Deficiency of FA has been associated with the pathogenesis of neural tube defects. Since FA can modulate DNA methylation and affect gene expression, we investigated the effect of gestational FA supplementation on the expression of genes in the offspring brain. Our results suggest that a maternal ten-fold increase in FA supplementation alters the expression and dysregulates a number of genes in the offspring brain, including many involved in development. While a number of genes that were dysregulated were common to both male and female pups, there were sex differences in gene expression changes.
Project description:Maternal nutrition exclusively during the periconceptional period can induce remarkable effects on both oocyte maturation and early embryo development, which in turn can have lifelong consequences. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of maternal methionine supplementation on the transcriptome of bovine preimplantation embryos. Holstein cows were randomly assigned to one of two treatments differing in level of dietary methionine (1.89 Met vs. 2.43 Met % of metabolizable protein) from calving until embryo flushing. High quality preimplantation embryos from individual cows were pooled and then analyzed by RNA sequencing. A total of eight Holstein dairy cows were used in this study. Preimplantation embryos recovered from each cow were pooled in order to generate two replicates per cow assayed. Each pool consisted of 2-4 expanded blastocysts with excellent quality. Overall, a total of 16 embryo pools underwent RNA extraction, amplification, and subsequent sequencing.
Project description:Maternal nutrition exclusively during the periconceptional period can induce remarkable effects on both oocyte maturation and early embryo development, which in turn can have lifelong consequences. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of maternal methionine supplementation on the transcriptome of bovine preimplantation embryos. Holstein cows were randomly assigned to one of two treatments differing in level of dietary methionine (1.89 Met vs. 2.43 Met % of metabolizable protein) from calving until embryo flushing. High quality preimplantation embryos from individual cows were pooled and then analyzed by RNA sequencing.