Assisted reproduction: the epigenetic perspective

Developmental pathways in humans and other organisms are buffered against changes in genotype and environment. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that most of the children conceived by assisted reproduction technology (ART) are healthy, although ART bypasses a lot of biological filters and subjects the gametes and the early embryo to environmental stress. If, however, the buffer breaks down, the development of certain tissues or organs may follow abnormal trajectories. We argue that both normal and abnormal development in children conceived by ART can be explained by epigenetic mechanisms, which control the establishment and maintenance of gene expression patterns in the placenta and fetus. Imprinted genes are of special importance in this respect. There is increasing evidence that genetic factors in infertile couples as well as environmental factors (hormones and culture media) can have adverse effects on epigenetic processes controlling implantation, placentation, organ formation and fetal growth. In addition, loss of epigenetic control may expose hidden genetic variation.