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OBJECTIVEFixed genomic variation explains only a small proportion of the risk of adiposity. In animal models, maternal diet alters offspring body composition, accompanied by epigenetic changes in metabolic control genes. Little is known about whether such processes operate in humans.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSUsing Sequenom MassARRAY we measured the methylation status of 68 CpGs 5′ from five candidate genes in umbilical cord tissue DNA from healthy neonates. Methylation varied greatly at particular CpGs: for 31 CpGs with median methylation ≥5% and a 5–95% range ≥10%, we related methylation status to maternal pregnancy diet and to child’s adiposity at age 9 years. Replication was sought in a second independent cohort.RESULTSIn cohort 1, retinoid X receptor-α (RXRA) chr9:136355885+ and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) chr7:150315553+ methylation had independent associations with sex-adjusted childhood fat mass (exponentiated regression coefficient [β] 17% per SD change in methylation [95% CI 4–31], P = 0.009, n = 64, and β = 20% [9–32], P < 0.001, n = 66, respectively) and %fat mass (β = 10% [1–19], P = 0.023, n = 64 and β =12% [4–20], P = 0.002, n = 66, respectively). Regression analyses including sex and neonatal epigenetic marks explained >25% of the variance in childhood adiposity. Higher methylation of RXRA chr9:136355885+, but not of eNOS chr7:150315553+, was associated with lower maternal carbohydrate intake in early pregnancy, previously linked with higher neonatal adiposity in this population. In cohort 2, cord eNOS chr7:150315553+ methylation showed no association with adiposity, but RXRA chr9:136355885+ methylation showed similar associations with fat mass and %fat mass (β = 6% [2–10] and β = 4% [1–7], respectively, both P = 0.002, n = 239).CONCLUSIONSOur findings suggest a substantial component of metabolic disease risk has a prenatal developmental basis. Perinatal epigenetic analysis may have utility in identifying individual vulnerability to later obesity and metabolic disease.

Plasticity in developmental programming has evolved in order to provide the best chances of survival and reproductive success to the organism under changing environments. Environmental conditions that are experienced in early life can profoundly influence human biology and long-term health. Developmental origins of health and disease and life-history transitions are purported to use placental, nutritional, and endocrine cues for setting long-term biological, mental, and behavioral strategies in response to local ecological and/or social conditions. The window of developmental plasticity extends from preconception to early childhood and involves epigenetic responses to environmental changes, which exert their effects during life-history phase transitions. These epigenetic responses influence development, cell- and tissue-specific gene expression, and sexual dimorphism, and, in exceptional cases, could be transmitted transgenerationally. Translational epigenetic research in child health is a reiterative process that ranges from research in the basic sciences, preclinical research, and pediatric clinical research. Identifying the epigenetic consequences of fetal programming creates potential applications in clinical practice: the development of epigenetic biomarkers for early diagnosis of disease, the ability to identify susceptible individuals at risk for adult diseases, and the development of novel preventive and curative measures that are based on diet and/or novel epigenetic drugs.

E-cadherin is an essential adhesion protein as well as a tumor suppressor that is silenced in many cancers. Its adhesion-dependent regulation of signaling has not been elucidated. We report that E-cadherin can negatively regulate, in an adhesion-dependent manner, the ligand-dependent activation of divergent classes of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), by inhibiting their ligand-dependent activation in association with decreases in receptor mobility and in ligand-binding affinity. E-cadherin did not regulate a constitutively active mutant RTK (Neu*) or the liganddependent activation of LPA receptors or muscarinic receptors, which are two classes of G protein-coupled receptors. EGFR regulation by E-cadherin was associated with complex formation between EGFR and E-cadherin that depended on the extracellular domain of E-cadherin but was independent of b-catenin binding or p120-catenin binding. Transfection of E-cadherin conferred negative RTK regulation to human melanoma and breast cancer lines with downregulated endogenous E-cadherin. Abrogation of E-cadherin regulation may contribute to the frequent ligand-dependent activation of RTK in tumors.

The distinct axonal tracts of the mature nervous system are defined during development by sets of substrate-bound and diffusible molecular signals that promote or restrict axonal elongation. In the adult cerebral cortex, efferent and afferent axons are segregated within the white matter. To define the relationship of growing efferent and afferent axons in the developing murine cortex to chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) in the pericellular and extracellular matrix, we used the fluorescent tracer Dil to determine axonal trajectories and immunolabeling to disclose the distribution of CSPGs. Axons of neurons in the preplate are the first to leave the cortex; they arise in the CSPG-rich preplate and extend obliquely across it to enter the CSPG-poor intermediate zone. Slightly later, axons of cortical plate neurons extend directly across the CSPG-rich subplate, and then turn abruptly to run in the upper intermediate zone. In contrast, once afferent axons from the thalamus reach the developing cortical wall, their intracortical trajectory is centered on the CSPG-rich subplate, above the path taken by efferent axons. Our findings demonstrate a molecular difference between the adjacent but distinct efferent and afferent pathways in developing neocortex. Early efferents cross the subplate and follow a pathway that contains very little CSPG, while afferents preferentially travel more superficially within the CSPG-rich subplate. Thus, CSPGs and associated extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the preplate/subplate do not form a barrier to axonal initiation or outgrowth in the neocortex as they may in other locations. Instead, their distribution suggests a role in defining discrete axonal pathways during early cortical development.

The causes of impaired skeletal muscle mass and strength during aging are well-studied in healthy populations. Less is known on pathological age-related muscle wasting and weakness termed sarcopenia, which directly impacts physical autonomy and survival. Here, we compare genome-wide transcriptional changes of sarcopenia versus age-matched controls in muscle biopsies from 119 older men from Singapore, Hertfordshire UK and Jamaica. Individuals with sarcopenia reproducibly demonstrate a prominent transcriptional signature of mitochondrial bioenergetic dysfunction in skeletal muscle, with low PGC-1α/ERRα signalling, and downregulation of oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial proteostasis genes. These changes translate functionally into fewer mitochondria, reduced mitochondrial respiratory complex expression and activity, and low NAD+ levels through perturbed NAD+ biosynthesis and salvage in sarcopenic muscle. We provide an integrated molecular profile of human sarcopenia across ethnicities, demonstrating a fundamental role of altered mitochondrial metabolism in the pathological loss of skeletal muscle mass and function in older people.

RT-PCR methods have been applied to the detection and sequencing of the glycoprotein gene of putative spring viraemia of carp viruses (SVCV) and pike fry rhabdoviruses (PFRV), including isolates from tench, grass carp, roach, bream and false harlequin, sheatfish and orfe.

Mammalian organ regeneration is the "Holy Grail" of modern regenerative biology and medicine. The most dramatic organ replacement is known as epimorphic regeneration. To date our knowledge of epimorphic regeneration has come from studies of amphibians. Notably, these animals have the ability to reprogram phenotypically committed cells at the amputation plane toward an embryonic-like cell phenotype (dedifferentiation). The capability of mammals to initiate analogous regeneration, and whether similar mechanisms would be involved if it were to occur, remain unclear. Deer antlers are the only mammalian appendages capable of full renewal, and therefore offer a unique opportunity to explore how nature has solved the problem of mammalian epimorphic regeneration. Following casting of old hard antlers, new antlers regenerate from permanent bony protuberances, known as pedicles. Studies through morphological and histological examinations, tissue deletion and transplantation, and cellular and molecular techniques have demonstrated that antler renewal is markedly different from that of amphibian limb regeneration (dedifferentiation-based), being a stem cell-based epimorphic process. Antler stem cells reside in the pedicle periosteum. We envisage that epimorphic regeneration of mammalian appendages, other than antler, could be made possible by recreating comparable milieu to that which supports the elaboration of that structure from the pedicle periosteum.