Intergenerational impact of violence exposure during pregnancy on epigenetic change

孕妇所经历的创伤可能会影响其后代的生理，有时甚至会影响到未来几十年。创伤的影响可能是由我们基因组的变化引起的，这些变化改变了基因表达和蛋白质产生的方式。该项目将检验一种假设，即孕妇遭受的暴力可能导致母亲、其子女和孙辈的基因组发生变化。这项研究是一项全球性的跨学科合作，将更好地了解人类如何适应逆境，以及这些适应如何在逆境结束后长期持续下去。这项研究的结果将通过演讲和出版物、学生交流以及针对当地社区和决策者的外联活动传达给公众和科学界。该项目将培养一名博士后助理和3-4名本科生，其中许多人来自STEM研究领域代表性不足的群体。在这项研究中，收集了一组独特的生物样本，并将分析基因组的变化，特别是可以改变基因表达的DNA甲基基团的添加。招募了三代家庭，他们在不同的世代都遭受过暴力;具体而言，第1组的祖母在怀孕期间遭受暴力，第2组的母亲在怀孕期间遭受暴力，第3组是对照家庭，没有遭受暴力。来自母亲和两个孩子（一个孩子在子宫内暴露，一个孩子将作为对照）的生物样本将使用尖端方法进行分析，以检测DNA甲基化变化。DNA甲基化的变化与每一代人暴露于暴力之间的关联将被测试，同时控制暴露时的年龄，样本收集时的年龄，性别和其他不利暴露，如缺乏食物或水或医疗保健。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Trauma that is experienced by a pregnant woman can affect the physiology of her offspring, sometimes decades into the future. The impact of trauma may be caused by changes to our genome that alter the way in which genes are expressed and proteins are produced. This project will test the hypothesis that violence experienced by a pregnant woman may produce changes in the genomes of the mother, her child, and her grandchild. This study is a global, interdiscriplinary collaboration that will provide a better understanding of how humans adapt to adversity, and how these adaptations may persist far into the future, long after the adverse conditions have ended. The results of this research will be communicated to the public and scientific community through presentations and publications, student exchanges, and outreach activities to local communities and policymakers. This project will train one postdoctoral assistant and 3-4 undergraduate students, many of whom are from groups underrepresented in STEM research fields.In this study, a unique set of biological samples have been collected and will be assayed for changes to the genome, specifically the addition of DNA methyl groups that can change the expression of a gene. Three generation families have been recruited who have been exposed to violence in different generations; specifically, grandmothers in group 1 were exposed while pregnant, mothers in group 2 were exposed while pregnant, and group 3 are control familes who were not exposed. Biological samples from the mothers and two children (one child was exposed in utero and one child will serve as a control) will be analyzed using cutting-edge methods to assay for DNA methylation changes. Associations between changes to DNA methylation and exposure to violence in each generation will be tested, while controlling for age at time of exposure, age at sample collection, sex, and additional adverse exposures, such as lack of food or water or medical care.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.