MATERNAL DIET MODIFIES THE FETAL PRIMATE EPIGENOME AND CIRCADIAN GENE EXPRESSION

这个子项目是许多利用资源的研究子项目之一 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目的主要支持 而子项目的主要调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括其它NIH来源。 列出的子项目总成本可能 代表子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， 而不是由NCRR赠款提供给子项目或子项目工作人员的直接资金。 根据Barker的胎儿起源成人疾病假说，妊娠环境的扰动影响成人疾病的发展。这是通过染色质结构中的表观遗传变化对基因表达进行重编程而发生的。在啮齿动物中进行的研究清楚地表明，许多母体操作可导致发育中胎儿的表观遗传修饰，从而导致体重稳态的长期改变。令人惊讶的是，一直缺乏研究是否修改母体膳食脂肪会导致类似的表观遗传修饰的胎儿后代。此外，没有证据表明表观遗传修饰是否发生在灵长类动物物种中。这项建议的一般假设是，怀孕期间和新生儿早期的饮食和代谢健康对儿童代谢疾病的发展有重大影响。该建议的重点是母亲的高脂肪饮食对胎儿和出生后的表观遗传特征的昼夜节律基因在肝脏和下丘脑的NHP的影响。在这些研究中，肝脏和下丘脑的样品取自对照饮食或高脂肪饮食动物的后代。将表征染色质结构、组蛋白修饰（组蛋白乙酰化/甲基化）的变化以及表观遗传修饰基因表达的变化。这些研究的一个特别重点是表征能量稳态的昼夜节律调节的变化。这些研究将提供关键的洞察力的潜在机制，母亲的营养操纵可能会导致长期的风险代谢疾病的后代。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. According to the Barker's Fetal Origins of Adult Disease Hypothesis, perturbations in the gestational milieu influence the development of adult diseases. This occurs through the reprogramming of gene expression via epigenetic changes in chromatin structure. It is clear from studies done in rodents that numerous maternal manipulations can cause epigenetic modifications in the developing fetus that results in long-term modification of body weight homeostasis. Surprisingly, there has been a lack of study of whether modification of maternal dietary fat can cause similar epigenetic modifications in the fetal offspring. Furthermore, there has been no evidence of whether epigenetic modifications occur in primate species. The general hypothesis of this proposal is that diet and metabolic health during pregnancy and the early neonatal period significantly contribute to the development of metabolic diseases in children. This proposal focuses upon the effects of a maternal high fat diet upon the fetal and postnatal epigenetic characteristics of circadian genes in the liver and hypothalamus of the NHP. For these studies liver and hypothalamic are obtained samples from offspring of animals maintained either on a control diet or a high fat diet. Changes in chromatin structure, histone modifications (histone acetylation/methylation) as well as changes in expression of genes that are epigenetically modified will be characterized. A special focus of these studies is to characterize changes in circadian regulation of energy homeostasis. These studies will provide critical insight into the underlying mechanism by which maternal nutritional manipulations can cause long-term risks of metabolic diseases in offspring.