The ability of environmental exposures in one generation to elicit phenotypic outcomes in subsequent generations suggests that DNA is not the sole vehicle of biological heredity. Such non-genetic inheritance has been demonstrated in a variety of non-mammalian species but, to date, has remained controversial and inadequately characterised in mammals. Here, we show that early life protein restriction (PR) in mice alters DNA methylation at specific genetic variants of multi-copy ribosomal DNA (rDNA), to produce a linear correlation with the extent of growth restriction induced by PR. These effects are common to soma and germ-line and are concomitant with changes in the relative abundance of the responsive rDNA genetic variant. Intergenerational pedigree analysis reveals that rDNA genetic correlations are abolished between directly exposed males and their unexposed offspring, and epigenetic correlations are gained.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first direct demonstration in mammals of epigenetic dynamics induced by gene-environment interactions. Our work confirms rDNA as an evolutionarily conserved target of nutritional insults and intergenerational effects in flies, yeast, and now mice. SOURCE: Robert Lowe QMUL

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE72607: Intergenerational consequences of gene-environment induced epigenetic dynamics at rDNA in the mouse (RNA-Seq)