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 thecontrol 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 6hours over a circadian cycle at ZT0, ZT6, ZT12, and ZT18. Total RNA was extracted from the liver, and used for RNA-seq.

在哺乳动物中，外周组织的昼夜节律基因表达呈现固有节律，且该节律可由进食节律与膳食组成重编程。本研究开展昼夜节律转录组（circadian transcriptome）测序，以探究妊娠期间母体的昼夜节律（circadian rhythm）如何影响小鼠肝脏内的节律性基因调控过程。将C57BL/6J品系妊娠小鼠随机分组，分别饲养于两种环境：其一为对照12小时光照/12小时黑暗循环条件（CON组），其二为慢性相移条件（CPS组）——该组仅在妊娠阶段每5天将光照相位提前8小时。将4周龄雄性子代小鼠随机分为两组，分别自由采食低脂饲料或高脂饲料，干预时长为12周。在一个昼夜节律周期内，每6小时采集一次组织样本，采样时间点为ZT0、ZT6、ZT12与ZT18（ZT即授时因子时间Zeitgeber Time）。从肝脏组织中提取总RNA，随后进行RNA测序（RNA-seq）。