Project description:Environmental compounds including fungicides, plastics, pesticides, dioxin and hydrocarbons can promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult-onset disease in future generation progeny following ancestral exposure during the critical period of fetal gonadal sex determination. This study examined the actions of the pesticide methoxychlor to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult-onset disease and associated differential DNA methylation regions (i.e. epimutations) in sperm. Gestating F0 generation female rats were transiently exposed to methoxychlor during fetal gonadal development (gestation days 8 to 14) and then adult-onset disease was evaluated in adult F1 and F3 (great-grand offspring) generation progeny for control (vehicle exposed) and methoxychlor lineage offspring. There were increases in the incidence of kidney disease, ovary disease, and obesity in the methoxychlor lineage animals. In females and males the incidence of disease increased in both the F1 and the F3 generations and the incidence of multiple disease increased in the F3 generation. There was increased disease incidence in F4 generation reverse outcross (female) offspring indicating disease transmission was primarily transmitted through the female germline. Analysis of the F3 generation sperm epigenome of the methoxychlor lineage males identified differentially DNA methylated regions (DMR) termed epimutations in a genome-wide gene promoters analysis. These epimutations were found to be methoxychlor exposure specific in comparison with other exposure specific sperm epimutation signatures. Observations indicate that the pesticide methoxychlor has the potential to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and the sperm epimutations appear to provide exposure specific epigenetic biomarkers for transgenerational disease and ancestral environmental exposures. Methylated sperm DNA was isolated from rats ancestrally exposed to methoxychlor. Three independent samples from each treatment group were obtained. Differential DNA methylation between treatment groups was determined using Nimblegen microarrays. Treated samples were paired with control samples and hybridized together on arrays, resulting in three arrays for the treatment.

Project description:2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a potent aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist that elicits a broad spectrum of dose-dependent effects in the liver, including hepatic lipid accumulation coupled with inflammation. To determine the role of inflammatory lipid mediators in TCDD-mediated hepatotoxicity, eicosanoid metabolism was investigated in female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Rats were gavaged with sesame oil vehicle or 0.01-10 µg/kg TCDD every 4 days for 28 days. Hepatic RNA-Seq data from female SD rats was compared with data from female C57BL/6 mice and functionally annotated to determine key toxicogenomic differences between the two species regarding TCDD exposure. Hepatic RNA-Seq data from female SD rats integrated with untargeted metabolomics of liver, serum, and urine identified dose-dependent changes in linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism. TCDD also elicited dose-dependent differential gene expression associated with cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase, and cytochrome P450 epoxidation/ hydroxylation pathways with corresponding changes in omega-6 (e.g. AA and LA) and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) as well as their eicosanoid metabolites. Overall, total omega-6 PUFAs increased, while total omega-3 PUFAs decreased. Phospholipase A2 (Pla2g12a) was induced 6-fold consistent with increased AA metabolism, while AA utilization by lipoxygenases Alox5 (2-fold) and Alox15 (10-fold) increased leukotrienes (LTs), important mediators signaling an inflammatory response. More specifically, TCDD increased pro-inflammatory eicosanoids, including leukotriene (LT) B4 (3-fold), and LTB3 (5-fold), known signals for the recruitment of neutrophils to areas of tissue damage. Dose-response modeling of metabolite and gene expression changes suggests the cytochrome P450 hydroxylase/epoxygenase and the lipoxygenase pathways are the most sensitive to TCDD. While several differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with eicosanoid biosynthesis contained putative dioxin response elements (pDRE) within their regulatory region, ChIP-Seq analysis showed little AhR enrichment, suggesting TCDD-elicited induction of eicosanoid biosynthesis is not a direct effect of AhR activation.

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Transgenerational epigenetic and transcriptomic effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin exposure in rat [Bisulfite-Seq]

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