Project description:Exposure to intrauterine heat stress during late gestation affects offspring performance into adulthood. However, underlying mechanistic links between thermal insult in fetal life and postnatal outcomes are not completely understood. Utilizing RNA Sequencing, this study characterized the mammary gland transcriptome of heifers that were gestated under maternal conditions of heat stress or cooling, i.e., in utero heat stressed (HT) vs. in utero cooled (CL). Mammary tissues were collected from three HT and three CL heifers during their first lactation.
Project description:Exposure to intrauterine heat stress during late gestation affects offspring performance into adulthood. However, underlying mechanistic links between thermal insult in fetal life and postnatal outcomes are not completely understood. Utilizing Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing, this study evaluated DNA methylation of liver and mammary gland of bull calves and heifers that were gestated under maternal conditions of heat stress or cooling, i.e., in utero heat stressed (HT) vs. in utero cooled (CL). Liver samples from bull calves (CT = 5 and HT = 4) were collected at birth while mammary gland samples from heifers (CT = 3 and HT = 3) were collected during their first lactation.
Project description:In utero undernutrition is associated with obesity and insulin resistance, although its effect on skeletal muscle remains poorly defined. We report that, in mice, adult offspring from undernourished dams have decreased energy expenditure, decreased skeletal muscle mitochondrial content, and altered energetics in isolated mitochondria and permeabilized muscle fibers. Strikingly, when these mice are put on a 40% calorie restricted diet they lose half as much weight as calorie restricted controls. Our results reveal for the first time that in utero undernutrition alters metabolic physiology having a profound effect on skeletal muscle energetics and response to calorie restriction in adulthood. We have used a mouse model of low birth weight generated through 50% food restriction of mouse dams during the third week of gestation. We have studied in utero food restricted offspring and control offspring that were not food restricted in utero in both the ad libitum and calorie restricted states. Gene expression profiling was performed on tibialis anterior muscle from 8 mice per group, pooled in pairs.
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.