Gene promoter DNA methylation patterns have a limited role in orchestrating transcriptional changes in the fetal liver in response to maternal folate depletion during pregnancy

Jill A. McKay, Michiel Adriaens, Chris T. Evelo, Dianne Ford, John C. Mathers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)
34 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

SCOPE: Early-life exposures are critical in fetal programming and may influence function and health in later life. Adequate maternal folate consumption during pregnancy is essential for healthy fetal development and long-term offspring health. The mechanisms underlying fetal programming are poorly understood, but are likely to involve gene regulation. Epigenetic marks, including DNA methylation, regulate gene expression and are modifiable by folate supply. We observed transcriptional changes in fetal liver in response to maternal folate depletion and hypothesized that these changes are concomitant with altered gene promoter methylation.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Female C57BL/6J mice were fed diets containing 2 or 0.4 mg folic acid/kg for 4 wk before mating and throughout pregnancy. At 17.5-day gestation, genome-wide gene expression and promoter methylation were measured by microarray analysis in male fetal livers. While 989 genes were differentially expressed, 333 promoters had altered methylation (247 hypermethylated, 86 hypomethylated) in response to maternal folate depletion. Only 16 genes had both expression and methylation changes. However, most methylation changes occurred in genomic regions neighboring expression changes.

CONCLUSION: In response to maternal folate depletion, altered expression at the mRNA level was not associated with altered promoter methylation of the same gene in fetal liver.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2031-2042
Number of pages12
JournalMolecular Nutrition & Food Research
Volume60
Issue number9
Early online date2 May 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2016

Keywords

  • Development
  • DNA methylation
  • Folate
  • Gene expression
  • Programming

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