Maternal Western-style diet has a persistent effect on offspring gene expression in skeletal muscle of Japanese...

Area of Science:

• Metabolic disease
• Gene expression
• Maternal health

Background:

• Maternal obesity increases offspring cardiometabolic disease risk.
• Previous studies showed reduced skeletal muscle metabolism and insulin sensitivity in offspring exposed to maternal Western-style diet (WD).

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate lasting effects of maternal diet and adiposity on offspring skeletal muscle gene expression.
• Determine the impact of prior maternal Western-style diet (WD) exposure on the transcriptional response to postweaning Western-style diet (WD).

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of differentially expressed (DE) genes in skeletal muscle of lean juvenile Japanese macaques.
• Assessment of gene expression changes related to maternal diet composition and adiposity.
• Evaluation of transcriptional response to chronic postweaning Western-style diet (WD) with and without prior maternal Western-style diet (WD) exposure.

Main Results:

• Maternal Western-style diet (WD), not maternal adiposity, was the primary driver of offspring skeletal muscle gene expression changes.
• Transcriptional response to postweaning Western-style diet (WD) was blunted in offspring exposed to maternal Western-style diet (WD), especially in males.
• Differentially expressed genes were associated with dysregulated metabolism and RNA processing pathways.

Conclusions:

• Maternal Western-style diet (WD) has a significant, lasting impact on offspring skeletal muscle gene expression.
• This gene expression alteration likely contributes to insulin resistance and metabolic dysregulation in offspring.
• Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for preventing cardiometabolic disease in offspring of obese mothers.