Maternal Circadian Rhythms during Pregnancy Dictate Metabolic Plasticity in Offspring

The circadian gene expression in peripheral tissue displays rhythmicity which is reprogrammed by feeding rhythms and dietary composition in mammals. In this study, circadian transcriptome was performed to investigate how maternal circadian rhythms during pregnancy influences circadian gene regulation in the mouse liver. C57BL/6J pregnant mice were randomly divided and housed under either the control 12h-light/ 12h-dark condition (CON) or chronically phase-shifted condition (CPS) where phase was advanced by 8 hours every 5 days exclusively during pregnancy. 4-week-old, male offspring mice were subjected to ad libitum low-fat diet or to high-fat diet for 12 weeks. Tissues were collected every 6 hours over a circadian cycle at ZT0, ZT6, ZT12, and ZT18. Total RNA was extracted from the liver, and used for RNA-seq.