Dataset Information

Mutation at the folate receptor 4 locus modulates gene expression profiles in the mouse uterus in response to periconceptional folate supplementation.

ABSTRACT: Periconceptional supplementation of folic acid to the diet of women is considered a great success for a public health intervention. Higher folate status, either by supplementation, or via the mandatory fortification of grain products in the United States, has led to significant reduction in the incidence of neural tube defects. Besides birth defects, folate deficiency has been linked to a variety of morbidities, most notably to increased risk for cancer. However, recent evidence suggests that excess folate may be detrimental - for birth defect incidence or in the progression of cancer. How folate mediates beneficial or detrimental effects is not well understood. It is also unknown what molecular responses are elicited in women taking folate supplements, and thus experience a bolus of folate on top of the status achieved by fortification. To characterize the response to a periconceptional regimen of supplementation with folinic acid, we performed gene expression profiling experiments on uterus tissue of pregnant mice with either wildtype alleles or targeted disruption at the folate receptor 4 locus. We observed that, depending on the genetic background, folinic acid supplementation affects expression of genes that contribute to lipid metabolism, protein synthesis, mitochondrial function, cell cycle, and cell activation. The extent of the response is strongly modulated by the genetic background. Finally, we provide evidence that folinic acid supplementation in the mutant paradigm affects histone methylation status, a potential mechanism of gene regulation in this model.

SUBMITTER: Salbaum JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770181 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Mutation at the folate receptor 4 locus modulates gene expression profiles in the mouse uterus in response to periconceptional folate supplementation.

Salbaum J Michael JM Kruger Claudia C Kappen Claudia C

Biochimica et biophysica acta 20130504 10

Periconceptional supplementation of folic acid to the diet of women is considered a great success for a public health intervention. Higher folate status, either by supplementation, or via the mandatory fortification of grain products in the United States, has led to significant reduction in the incidence of neural tube defects. Besides birth defects, folate deficiency has been linked to a variety of morbidities, most notably to increased risk for cancer. However, recent evidence suggests that ex ...[more]

PMID: 23651732

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:It has been reported that neural tube defects can be prevented with periconceptional folic acid supplementation. The effects of different doses, forms and schemes of folate supplementation for the prevention of other birth defects and maternal and infant outcomes are unclear. OBJECTIVES:This review updates and expands a previous Cochrane Review assessing the effects of periconceptional supplementation with folic acid to reduce neural tube defects (NTDs). We examined whether folate supplementation before and during early pregnancy can reduce neural tube and other birth defects (including cleft palate) without causing adverse outcomes for mothers or babies. SEARCH STRATEGY:We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (July 2010). Additionally, we searched the international clinical trials registry platform and contacted relevant organisations to identify ongoing and unpublished studies. SELECTION CRITERIA:We included all randomised or quasi-randomised trials evaluating the effect of periconceptional folate supplementation alone, or in combination with other vitamins and minerals, in women independent of age and parity. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:We assessed trials for methodological quality using the standard Cochrane criteria. Two authors independently assessed the trials for inclusion, one author extracted data and a second checked for accuracy. MAIN RESULTS:Five trials involving 6105 women (1949 with a history of a pregnancy affected by a NTD and 4156 with no history of NTDs) were included. Overall, the results are consistent in showing a protective effect of daily folic acid supplementation (alone or in combination with other vitamins and minerals) in preventing NTDs compared with no interventions/placebo or vitamins and minerals without folic acid (risk ratio (RR) 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.15 to 0.52). Only one study assessed the incidence of NTDs and the effect was not statistically significant (RR 0.08, 95% CI 0.00 to 1.33) although no events were found in the group that received folic acid. Folic acid had a significant protective effect for reoccurrence (RR 0.32, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.60). There is no statistically significant evidence of any effects on prevention of cleft palate, cleft lip, congenital cardiovascular defects, miscarriages or any other birth defects. There were no included trials assessing the effects of this intervention on maternal blood folate or anaemia at term.We found no evidence of short-term side effects. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:Folic acid, alone or in combination with vitamins and minerals, prevents NTDs but does not have a clear effect on other birth defects.

Project description:The effect of pre and periconceptional multiple micronutrient supplementation on methylation of CpG loci within CpG islands associated with 14,000 genes across the human genome has been investigated in the offspring of a cohort of Gambian women participating in a controlled double blinded trial. Methylation levels in placebo and micronutrient supplemented cohorts were compared in genomic DNA from cord blood (35 placebo and 21 micronutrient supplemented) and in circulating blood samples (14 placebo and 9 micronutrient supplemented) drawn from the same cohort at 9 months old. A small number of differentially methylated CpG loci were identified in cord blood (14 in males and 21 in females) and a larger number in the 9 month infant comparison (108 in males and 106 in females). Seven differentially methylated loci in males and 8 in females persisted from cord to infant. These findings indicate that micronutrient supplementation pre-conception or early in embryonic development is potentially associated with programming of gene activity at birth, which is maintained into early infanthood. Strikingly, the loci affected by micronutrient supplementation differed between males and females, with no shared changes in cord blood and only 5 shared changes at 9 months. Additionally, a large number of CpG loci showed variation in methylation level when comparing 9-month samples to cord blood samples. These postnatal changes were more consistent between sexes, with 85% of female alterations being found as a subset of male changes in the placebo cohort and 62% of the female changes shared with males in the supplemented cohort. Taken together, the results suggest that there is a core developmental program shared between the sexes that is unaffected by nutrient supplementation, but that there are also sex-specific developmental changes which are altered under conditions of micronutrient supplementation and deficiency. Bisulphite converted DNA from 59 cord (36 placebo and 23 treated) and 25 infant peripheral blood (15 placebo and 10 treated) samples were hybridised to the Illumina Infinium 27k Human Methylation Beadchip v1.2. (For further analysis, five were excluded during quality control leaving 56 cord (35 placebo and 21 treated) and 23 infant peripheral blood (14 placebo and 9 treated) samples. Full data set of 84 samples were submitted to GEO)

Project description:BackgroundAicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) is a severe infant or juvenile-onset autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory encephalopathy with an elevated type 1 interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression signature in the brain. Mutations in seven different protein-coding genes, all linked to DNA/RNA metabolism or sensing, have been identified in AGS patients, but none of them has been demonstrated to activate the IFN pathway in the brain of an animal. The molecular mechanism of inflammatory encephalopathy in AGS has not been well defined. Adenosine Deaminase Acting on RNA 1 (ADAR1) is one of the AGS-associated genes. It carries out A-to-I RNA editing that converts adenosine to inosine at double-stranded RNA regions. Whether an AGS-associated mutation in ADAR1 activates the IFN pathway and causes autoimmune pathogenesis in the brain is yet to be determined.MethodsMutations in the ADAR1 gene found in AGS patients were introduced into the mouse genome via CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Molecular activities of the specific p.K999N mutation were investigated by measuring the RNA editing levels in brain mRNA substrates of ADAR1 through RNA sequencing analysis. IFN pathway activation in the brain was assessed by measuring ISG expression at the mRNA and protein level through real-time RT-PCR and Luminex assays, respectively. The locations in the brain and neural cell types that express ISGs were determined by RNA in situ hybridization (ISH). Potential AGS-related brain morphologic changes were assessed with immunohistological analysis. Von Kossa and Luxol Fast Blue staining was performed on brain tissue to assess calcification and myelin, respectively.ResultsMice bearing the ADAR1 p.K999N were viable though smaller than wild type sibs. RNA sequencing analysis of neuron-specific RNA substrates revealed altered RNA editing activities of the mutant ADAR1 protein. Mutant mice exhibited dramatically elevated levels of multiple ISGs within the brain. RNA ISH of brain sections showed selective activation of ISG expression in neurons and microglia in a patchy pattern. ISG-15 mRNA was upregulated in ADAR1 mutant brain neurons whereas CXCL10 mRNA was elevated in adjacent astroglia. No calcification or gliosis was detected in the mutant brain.ConclusionsWe demonstrated that an AGS-associated mutation in ADAR1, specifically the p.K999N mutation, activates the IFN pathway in the mouse brain. The ADAR1 p.K999N mutant mouse replicates aspects of the brain interferonopathy of AGS. Neurons and microglia express different ISGs. Basal ganglia calcification and leukodystrophy seen in AGS patients were not observed in K999N mutant mice, indicating that development of the full clinical phenotype may need an additional stimulus besides AGS mutations. This mutant mouse presents a robust tool for the investigation of AGS and neuroinflammatory diseases including the modeling of potential "second hits" that enable severe phenotypes of clinically variable diseases.

Dataset Information

Mutation at the folate receptor 4 locus modulates gene expression profiles in the mouse uterus in response to periconceptional folate supplementation.

Publications

Mutation at the folate receptor 4 locus modulates gene expression profiles in the mouse uterus in response to periconceptional folate supplementation.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure