Metabolic plasticity during mammalian development is directionally dependent on early nutritional status.
Developmental plasticity in response to environmental cues can take the form of polyphenism, as for the discrete morphs of some insects, or of an apparently continuous spectrum of phenotype, as for most mammalian traits. The metabolic phenotype of adult rats, including the propensity to obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and hyperphagia, shows plasticity in response to prenatal nutrition and to neonatal administration of the adipokine leptin. Here, we report that the effects of neonatal leptin on hepatic gene expression and epigenetic status in adulthood are directionally dependent on the animal's nutritional status in utero. These results demonstrate that, during mammalian development, the direction of the response to one cue can be determined by previous exposure to another, suggesting the potential for a discontinuous distribution of environmentally induced phenotypes, analogous to the phenomenon of polyphenism.
Gluckman
Peter D
PD
Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1023, New Zealand. pd.gluckman@auckland.ac.nz
Lillycrop
Karen A
KA
Vickers
Mark H
MH
Pleasants
Anthony B
AB
Phillips
Emma S
ES
Beedle
Alan S
AS
Burdge
Graham C
GC
Hanson
Mark A
MA
D043209:11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 2 / Q000235:genetics; D053180:Animal Nutrition Sciences; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010641:Phenotype; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors
D020738:Leptin; D043209:11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 2