Heritable Transmission of Stress Resistance by High Dietary Glucose in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>

Glucose is a major energy source and is a key regulator of metabolism but excessive dietary glucose is linked to several disorders including type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiac dysfunction. Dietary intake greatly influences organismal survival but whether the effects of nutritional status are transmitted to the offspring is an unresolved question. Here we show that exposing Caenorhabditis elegans to high glucose concentrations in the parental generation leads to opposing negative effects on fecundity, while having protective effects against cellular stress in the descendent progeny. The transgenerational inheritance of glucose-mediated phenotypes is dependent on the insulin/IGF-like signalling pathway and components of the histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylase complex are essential for transmission of inherited phenotypes. Thus dietary over-consumption phenotypes are heritable with profound effects on the health and survival of descendants.葡萄糖（Glucose）是机体主要的能量来源，亦是代谢调控的关键因子，但过量膳食葡萄糖与多种疾病密切相关，包括2型糖尿病、肥胖症及心脏功能异常。膳食摄入对机体存活具有显著影响，然而营养状态的效应能否传递至子代，仍是一个悬而未决的科学问题。本研究以秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans）为模型，发现亲代暴露于高葡萄糖环境中，会对子代产生两种对立的效应：一是对繁殖力造成负面影响，二是为子代对抗细胞应激提供保护作用。葡萄糖介导表型的跨代遗传依赖于胰岛素/胰岛素样生长因子（IGF）信号通路，而组蛋白H3赖氨酸4三甲基转移酶复合物的组分对于遗传表型的传递至关重要。由此可见，膳食过量摄入所引发的表型具有可遗传性，且对子代的健康与存活具有深远影响。