Germ cell epigenetic instability in the Mtrr mouse model of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance

Folate metabolism is important for the generation of methyl groups required for cellular methylation reactions. Mice with a hypomorphic mutation in the gene Mtrr have disrupted folate metabolism and show transgenerational inheritance of developmental abnormalities. We sought to explore if DNA methylation patterns in the sperm of Mtrr mice may be disrupted. Therefore we performed MeDIP-seq on sperm collect from males with the Mtrr mutation (either heterozygous (Mtrr +/gt) or homozygous mutants (Mtrr gt/gt)), males ancestrally exposed to the Mtrr mutation (Mtrr +/+) and C57Bl/6J control males. C57Bl/6J males were used as controls as they have the same genetic background as the mice with Mtrr mutation.