Journal article

DNA methylation regulates hypothalamic gene expression linking parental diet during pregnancy to the offspring's risk of obesity in Psammomys obesus

I Khurana, A Kaspi, M Ziemann, T Block, T Connor, B Spolding, A Cooper, P Zimmet, A El-Osta, K Walder

International Journal of Obesity | SPRINGERNATURE | Published : 2016

Abstract

Background/Objective: The rising incidence of obesity is a major public health issue worldwide. Recent human and animal studies suggest that parental diet can influence fetal development and is implicated with risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes in offspring. The hypothalamus is central to body energy homoeostasis and appetite by controlling endocrine signals. We hypothesise that offspring susceptibility to obesity is programmed in the hypothalamus in utero and mediated by changes to DNA methylation, which persist to adulthood. We investigated hypothalamic genome-wide DNA methylation in Psammomys obesus diet during pregnancy to the offspring's risk of obesity. Methods: Using methyl-CpG bindi..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

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Funding Acknowledgements

We thank Ross Lazarus and Haloom Rafehi for bioinformatics support. This work was supported in part by Gandel Philanthropy and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Scholarships in Pathology for Medical Schools. We acknowledge grant and fellowship support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) as well as the support from the Moshe Meydan Donation. Supported in part by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.