title: Epigenetic Mechanisms of Transmission of Metabolic Disease across Generations.
abstract: Both human and animal studies indicate that environmental exposures experienced during early life can robustly influence risk for adult disease. Moreover, environmental exposures experienced by parents during either intrauterine or postnatal life can also influence the health of their offspring, thus initiating a cycle of disease risk across generations. In this Perspective, we focus on epigenetic mechanisms in germ cells, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs, which collectively may provide a non-genetic molecular legacy of prior environmental exposures and influence transcriptional regulation, developmental trajectories, and adult disease risk in offspring.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Physiology and Metabolism, Research Division, Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, One Joslin Place, Sixth Floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Vicencia Micheline
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Sales
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK.
authors.forename: Anne C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ferguson-Smith
authors.affiliation: Integrative Physiology and Metabolism, Research Division, Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, One Joslin Place, Sixth Floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Electronic address: mary.elizabeth.patti@joslin.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Mary-Elizabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Patti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D040582:Inheritance Patterns / Q000235:genetics; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D012307:Risk Factors