Primordial Germ Cell Transgenerational Sperm DNA Methylation Epimutations Following Ancestral Vinclozolin Exposure

Previously the agricultural fungicide vinclozolin was found to promote the transgenerational inheritance of sperm differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs) termed epimutations that help mediate this epigenetic inheritance. The current study was designed to investigate the developmental origins of the transgenerational DMRs during gametogenesis. Male control and vinclozolin lineage F3 generation rats were used as a source of embryonic day 13 (E13) primordial germ cells. The DMRs between the control versus vinclozolin lineage samples were determined for this stage.既往研究发现，农业杀菌剂乙烯菌核利（vinclozolin）可促进精子差异DNA甲基化区域（differential DNA methylation regions，DMRs）的跨代遗传，这类区域被称为表观突变（epimutations），可介导此类表观遗传过程。本研究旨在探究配子发生（gametogenesis）过程中跨代DMRs的发育起源。实验以对照组与乙烯菌核利处理组的F3代雄性大鼠为材料，获取其胚胎第13天（E13）的原始生殖细胞（primordial germ cells），并对该发育阶段两组样本间的DMRs差异进行了鉴定分析。