AI Article Synopsis
- Maternal diet during the periconceptional period significantly affects DNA methylation in offspring, leading to lasting changes in traits.
- Research in rural Gambia shows how seasonal dietary variations among women impact important plasma biomarkers related to methylation.
- The study indicates that these maternal nutritional differences during early pregnancy cause enduring epigenetic changes in infants, visible in DNA from their lymphocytes and hair follicles.
Article Abstract
In experimental animals, maternal diet during the periconceptional period influences the establishment of DNA methylation at metastable epialleles in the offspring, with permanent phenotypic consequences. Pronounced naturally occurring seasonal differences in the diet of rural Gambian women allowed us to test this in humans. We show that significant seasonal variations in methyl-donor nutrient intake of mothers around the time of conception influence 13 relevant plasma biomarkers. The level of several of these maternal biomarkers predicts increased/decreased methylation at metastable epialleles in DNA extracted from lymphocytes and hair follicles in infants postnatally. Our results demonstrate that maternal nutritional status during early pregnancy causes persistent and systemic epigenetic changes at human metastable epialleles.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4015319 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4746 | DOI Listing |
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