Nutrition and early life programming: exploring epigenetic mechanisms

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Nutritional stresses in early life have long-lasting effects on health. Rapid growth in early postnatal life has been linked to increased incidence of common diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in later life. The mechanisms that link early post-natal nutrition with later ill health have not been well defined. Infants born preterm are encouraged to gain weight rapidly but this has important implications for adult health. By studying children who were born preterm, now aged 10-12 years, who participated in a post-natal nutritional trial we can glean important information not only about the health consequences of different infant feeding regimen, but also about the molecular mechanisms involved. This project aims to examine the molecular mechanisms that allow early nutrition to be 'memorised' at a cellular level. The genome is 'marked' in response to nutritional exposures and these markings can induce stable changes in which genes are switched on and switched off. Epigenetics refers to the decoration of the genome by these chemical markings and is an emerging field of post-genomic science. New technologies will be used to study epigenetic markings and gene expression in 120 children born preterm. These children took part in a nutritional trial and were fed one of three different diets from 36 weeks gestation to 6 months of age. Their growth and development has been followed over the last 10-12 years. Changes observed in epigenetic status and in gene expression will be related to differences in the health of the children, such as body composition, blood pressure, glucose and insulin levels and levels of hormones involved in fat metabolism. This project will use new tools in biotechnology and bioinformatics to study how nutrition influences the genome and how this may have long lasting effects on health.