Exercise and epigenetic inheritance of disease risk

Abstract

Epigenetics is the study of gene expression changes that occur in the absence of altered genotype. Current evidence indicates a role for environmentally induced alterations to epigenetic modifications leading to health and disease changes across multiple generations. This phenomenon is called intergenerational or transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of health or disease. Environmental insults, in the form of toxins, plastics and particular dietary interventions, perturb the epigenetic landscape and influence the health of F1 through to F4 generations in rodents. There is, however, the possibility that healthy lifestyles and environmental factors, such as exercise training, could lead to favourable, heritable epigenetic modifications that augment transcriptional programmes protective of disease, including metabolic dysfunction, heart disease and cancer. The health benefits conferred by regular physical exercise training are unquestionable, yet many of the molecular changes may have heritable health implications for future generations. Similar to other environmental factors, exercise modulates the epigenome of somatic cells and researchers are beginning to study exercise epigenetics in germ cells. The germ cell epigenetic modifications affected by exercise offer a molecular mechanism for the inheritance of health and disease risk. The aims of this review are to: (i) provide an update on the expanding field of exercise epigenetics; (ii) offer an overview of data on intergenerational/transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of disease by environmental insults; (iii) to discuss the potential of exercise-induced intergenerational inheritance of health and disease risk; and finally, outline potential mechanisms and avenues for future work on epigenetic inheritance through exercise.

Small non-coding RNAs are altered by short-term sprint interval training in men

“…; Safdar et al. ; Denham ). Using small RNA sequencing and SIT as a potent form of exercise training to elicit significant improvements in O 2max and cycling performance, we performed the first comprehensive analysis of the circulating small non‐coding RNA changes to short‐term exercise training.…”

“…Many miRNAs are implicated in various exercise‐induced adaptations (e.g., physiological cardiac hypertrophy, mitochondrial biogenesis, insulin sensitivity) (Polakovicova et al. ; Denham ), yet whether chronic exercise training influences other species of small ncRNAs is currently unknown.…”

ExActa HIF prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors—The new lifestyle drug?

“…The biggest market is probably performance improvement in amateur and professional sports with a focus on endurance exercise. In fact, the improvement in running time by exercise training is even greater when HIF is stabilized, and the epigenetic aspects of exercise training on future generations only started to be considered . For professional sports, the World Anti‐Doping Agency has included HIF PHDis in their annual Prohibited List since 2011 and doping with Roxadustat was first detected in 2015, with Molidustat in 2017 .…”

<b><i>Lifestyle Genomics</i></b>: Addressing the Multifactorial Nature of Personalized Health

“…The physiological benefits of physical activity and adaptation to exercise are also associated with changes in the epigenome. For example, it has been demonstrated that exercise during pregnancy can induce modifications in the offspring that are associated with a reduced risk for obesity [71]. Collectively, these examples highlight the breadth of lifestyle factors that can influence gene expression through epigenomic regulation.…”