Category Archives: Nutriepigenetics

Generational increases in stochastic epigenetic variability to sustained methyl donor supplementation in mice

This recent paper in PLoS Genetics by Cheryl C. Y. Li and colleagues (from a group that did earlier work with the agouti mouse model) was really fascinating- they looked at changes in methylation variability in response to dietary supplementation of methyl donors across multiple generations of mice. Some very novel and important findings (summary at the bottom). This time, they focused on CpG islands in the whole genome of (C57BL/6) mice fed methyl donors (similar to agouti studies: choline, betaine, Read more [...]

A low-protein paternal diet alters hepatic gene expressions in progeny

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Back in October I blogged about a recent paper by Ng et al. suggesting evidence for paternal programming of genes passed to offspring. Overall, the study wasn't very convincing (in my humble opinion). But recently Carone et al. give some more evidence that the paternal diet influences the offspring, independent of the maternal diet. Male mice were raised on a control diet with 20% protein, or a "low-protein" diet of 11% protein and the 9% made up with sucrose. Importantly, the authors noted Read more [...]

An epigenetic mechanism for peripheral insulin resistance

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PGC-1alpha is my favorite gene/protein to study, as it is essential for mitochondrial regulation, influential on many diseases and ageing. I also am fascinated by the relatively new field of epigenetics and its relation to nutrition and health. So you can understand my geeky giddiness when I found that a study by Barrès et al. (1) shows a link between them. (Warning this is technically dense, I provide a summary at the end with my perspective) Because the skeletal muscle is the primary Read more [...]