Project description:Environmental toxicants have been shown to induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease, including testis disease and male infertility. The exposure of a gestating female during the period of gonadal sex determination has been shown to promote sperm epimutations, differential DNA methylation regions (DMR), that transmit transgenerational disease to subsequent generations. The current study was designed to determine the impact of an altered sperm epigenome on the subsequent development of an adult somatic cell (Sertoli cell) that influences the onset of a specific disease (male infertility). A gestating female rat (F0 generation) was exposed to the agriculture fungicide vinclozolin during gonadal sex determination and then the subsequent F3 generation progeny used for the isolation of Sertoli cells and assessment of testis disease. As previously observed, a spermatogenic cell apoptosis was observed. The Sertoli cells that provide the physical and nutritional support for the spermatogenic cells were isolated and alterations in gene expression examined. Over 400 genes were differentially expressed in the F3 generation control versus vinclozolin lineage Sertoli cells. A number of specific signaling pathways and cellular processes were identified to be transgenerationally altered. One of the key metabolic processes affected was pyruvate/lactate production that is directly linked to spermatogenic cell viability. The Sertoli cell epigenome was also altered with over 100 promoter differential DNA methylation regions (DMR) modified in the vinclozolin F3 generation Sertoli cell. The genomic features and overlap with the sperm DMR were investigated. Observations demonstrate that the transgenerational sperm epigenetic alterations subsequently alters the development of a specific somatic cell (Sertoli cell) epigenome and transcriptome that then has a role in the adult onset disease (male infertility). The environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of testis disease appears to be a component of the molecular etiology of male infertility. Environmental toxicants have been shown to induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset male infertility. The exposure of a gestating female during the period of gonadal sex determination has been shown to promote sperm epimutations, differential DNA methylation regions (DMR), that transmit transgenerational disease to subsequent generations. The current study was designed to determine the impact of an altered sperm epigenome on the subsequent development of an adult somatic cell (Sertoli cell) that influences the onset of a specific disease (male infertility). A gestating female rat (F0 generation) was exposed to the agriculture fungicide vinclozolin during gonadal sex determination and then the subsequent F3 generation progeny used for the isolation of Sertoli cells and assessment of testis disease. The Sertoli cells provide the physical and nutritional support for the spermatogenic cells in the testis. The F3 generation Sertoli cells have an altered transcriptome and epigenome associated with adult onset testis disease. The environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of Sertoli cell abnormalities appears to be a component of the molecular etiology of male infertility. RNA samples from Sertoli cell of 3 F3-control lineage groups are compared to Sertoli cell of 3 F3-vinclozolin lineage groups

Project description:Environmental toxicants have been shown to induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease, including testis disease and male infertility. The exposure of a gestating female during the period of gonadal sex determination has been shown to promote sperm epimutations, differential DNA methylation regions (DMR), that transmit transgenerational disease to subsequent generations. The current study was designed to determine the impact of an altered sperm epigenome on the subsequent development of an adult somatic cell (Sertoli cell) that influences the onset of a specific disease (male infertility). A gestating female rat (F0 generation) was exposed to the agriculture fungicide vinclozolin during gonadal sex determination and then the subsequent F3 generation progeny used for the isolation of Sertoli cells and assessment of testis disease. As previously observed, a spermatogenic cell apoptosis was observed. The Sertoli cells that provide the physical and nutritional support for the spermatogenic cells were isolated and alterations in gene expression examined. Over 400 genes were differentially expressed in the F3 generation control versus vinclozolin lineage Sertoli cells. A number of specific signaling pathways and cellular processes were identified to be transgenerationally altered. One of the key metabolic processes affected was pyruvate/lactate production that is directly linked to spermatogenic cell viability. The Sertoli cell epigenome was also altered with over 100 promoter differential DNA methylation regions (DMR) modified in the vinclozolin F3 generation Sertoli cell. The genomic features and overlap with the sperm DMR were investigated. Observations demonstrate that the transgenerational sperm epigenetic alterations subsequently alters the development of a specific somatic cell (Sertoli cell) epigenome and transcriptome that then has a role in the adult onset disease (male infertility). The environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of testis disease appears to be a component of the molecular etiology of male infertility.

Project description:Environmental toxicants have been shown to induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease, including testis disease and male infertility. The current study was designed to determine the impact of an altered sperm epigenome on the subsequent development of an adult somatic cell (Sertoli cell) that influences the onset of a specific disease (male infertility). A gestating female rat (F0 generation) was exposed to the agriculture fungicide vinclozolin during gonadal sex determination and then the subsequent F3 generation progeny used for the isolation of Sertoli cells and assessment of testis disease. As previously observed, enhanced spermatogenic cell apoptosis was observed. The Sertoli cells provide the physical and nutritional support for the spermatogenic cells. Over 400 genes were differentially expressed in the F3 generation control versus vinclozolin lineage Sertoli cells. A number of specific cellular pathways were identified to be transgenerationally altered. One of the key metabolic processes affected was pyruvate/lactate production that is directly linked to spermatogenic cell viability. The Sertoli cell epigenome was also altered with over 100 promoter differential DNA methylation regions (DMR) modified. The genomic features and overlap with the sperm DMR were investigated. Observations demonstrate that the transgenerational sperm epigenetic alterations subsequently alters the development of a specific somatic cell (Sertoli cell) epigenome and transcriptome that correlates with adult onset disease (male infertility). The environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of testis disease appears to be a component of the molecular etiology of male infertility. The isolated Sertoli cell populations from three different groups of animals that were ancestrally exposed to vinclozolin during days 8-14 (E8-14) of fetal development and cell isolates were used to obtain Sertoli cell RNA and DNA from F3 generation control and vinclozolin lineages. The control and vinclozolin lineage Sertoli cell DNA was used in a methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) and genome wide promoter tiling array (Chip) analysis (MeDIP-Chip). Three different comparative (amplified MeDIP vs. amplified MeDIP) hybridizations experiments included in three sub-arrays were performed by Nimblegen. Each comparative hybridization experiment contained one biological replicate of Sertoli cell Whole Genome Amplified-MeDIP-DNA sample from each lineage-treatment.

Project description:Epigenetic inheritance is the transmission of altered gene expression states across dividing cells without DNA sequence variation. Induced epigenetic changes (epimutations) have been extensively studied, but importantly, epimutations also occur spontaneously in a manner reminiscent of DNA sequence change. Small RNAs are established as a source of spontaneous epimutations which transmit gene expression changes over multiple generations in C.elegans. These changes are generally short lived, but rarely long-lived changes occur. Given that chromatin state is a critical regulator of gene expression, we explored whether chromatin states also undergo spontaneous change and whether this could be a potential alternative mechanism for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. We compared the chromatin profiles and gene expression profiles at matched time points from a twenty generation bottlenecked lineage of C.elegans. We found that heritable changes in gene expression arose at a higher rate than the estimate for DNA sequence variation, indicating that these were true epigenetic events. In addition to recapitulating the known role for small RNAs, we provide evidence for chromatin mediated epimutations as an alternative mechanism driving epigenetic inheritance. Chromatin epimutations were heritable, enriched in the germline and synchronised with inherited gene expression changes. As with small RNA mediated epimutations, they were generally short lived with a tendency to resolve to baseline after 2-3 generations. A subset of chromatin epimutations however were long lasting, and these were uniquely enriched in piRNA clusters. Genes with long lived epimutations were implicated in multiple components of xenobiotic response pathways. This points to a mechanism for epigenetic ‘anticipation’ of environmental stressors. Adaptive traits driven by epimutations may be selected for under adverse conditions and lost on return to normal conditions, enabling soft adaptation in the absence of genetic sequence change.

Dataset Information

Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Testis Pathology and Sertoli Cell Epimutations: Generational Origins of Male Infertility

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