Prenatal Exposure to a Maternal High-Fat Diet Affects Histone Modification of Cardiometabolic Genes in Newborn Rats
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nutrients Article Prenatal Exposure to a Maternal High-Fat Diet Affects Histone Modification of Cardiometabolic Genes in Newborn Rats Bijaya Upadhyaya 1, Tricia Larsen 2, Shivon Barwari 1, Eli J. Louwagie 3, Michelle L. Baack 2,3,4,* and Moul Dey 1,* 1 Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences, Box 2203, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA; [email protected] (B.U.); [email protected] (S.B.) 2 Children’s Health Research Center, Sanford Research, Sioux Falls, SD 57104, USA; [email protected] 3 Sanford School of Medicine-University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD 57105, USA; [email protected] 4 Children’s Health Specialty Clinic, Sanford Children’s Hospital, Sioux Falls, SD 57117, USA * Correspondence: [email protected] (M.L.B.); [email protected] (M.D.); Tel.: +1-(605)-312-6420 (M.L.B.); +1-(605)-688-4050 (M.D.) Received: 18 March 2017; Accepted: 14 April 2017; Published: 20 April 2017 Abstract: Infants born to women with diabetes or obesity are exposed to excess circulating fuels during fetal heart development and are at higher risk of cardiac diseases. We have previously shown that late-gestation diabetes, especially in conjunction with a maternal high-fat (HF) diet, impairs cardiac functions in rat-offspring. This study investigated changes in genome-wide histone modifications in newborn hearts from rat-pups exposed to maternal diabetes and HF-diet. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation-sequencing revealed a differential peak distribution on gene promoters in exposed pups with respect to acetylation of lysines 9 and 14 and to trimethylation of lysines 4 and 27 in histone H3 (all, false discovery rate, FDR < 0.1). In the HF-diet exposed offspring, 54% of the annotated genes showed the gene-activating mark trimethylated lysine 4. Many of these genes (1) are associated with the “metabolic process” in general and particularly with “positive regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis” (FDR = 0.03); (2) overlap with 455 quantitative trait loci for blood pressure, body weight, serum cholesterol (all, FDR < 0.1); and (3) are linked to cardiac disease susceptibility/progression, based on disease ontology analyses and scientific literature. These results indicate that maternal HF-diet changes the cardiac histone signature in offspring suggesting a fuel-mediated epigenetic reprogramming of cardiac tissue in utero. Keywords: cardiometabolic disease; chromatin-immunoprecipitation sequencing; developmental programing; histone modifications; maternal high-fat diet 1. Introduction Diabetes complicates an estimated 17.8% of all pregnancies in the U.S. [1,2]. Its rising incidence parallels an increasing trend in obesity, as 34.4% of US women of childbearing age are obese [3]. Infants born to women with diabetes or obesity are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at birth and throughout life [4–7], purportedly through fuel-mediated influences on the developing heart. Both diabetes and hyperlipidemia influence cardiometabolic health in adults, playing a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of CVD over time [8–10]. Using a rat model, we have already demonstrated that in utero exposure to diabetes, especially in conjunction with a maternal high-fat (HF) diet, impairs cardiac function through metabolic disturbances in the developing fetal heart [11]. The objective of this Nutrients 2017, 9, 407; doi:10.3390/nu9040407 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients Nutrients 2017, 9, 407 2 of 21 study was to determine if exposed offspring from our model have cardiac-specific epigenetic marks that could help explain mechanisms of developmentally-programmed CVD. The influence of genetic susceptibility and nutritional environment in utero are critical in shaping the metabolic fate of offspring for the rest of their lives [12–14]. Mounting evidence demonstrates the importance of transcriptional regulation in normal heart development [15] and metabolic health into adulthood [16]. The heart is the first embryonic organ to function, already beating by three weeks of gestational age [17]. The fully developed heart beats over 100,000 times per day, thus requiring exquisite energy efficiency under a variety of workloads and metabolic circumstances (e.g., aerobic, anaerobic, rest, exercise, or starvation) [18]. For this reason, the heart is an ‘omnivore’, using all types of fuels to make up to 35 kg of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) per day to support normal circulation [19]. Cardiac metabolism changes with development. Given the relatively low levels of oxygen and the readily available fuel supply of the in utero environment, the developing heart favors glycolytic metabolism, in contrast to the adult resting heart, which favors fatty acid oxidation [18,20]. The ability to undergo cardiometabolic switching is essential to long-term heart health. In diabetic and/or obese adults, increased circulating levels of metabolic fuels and impaired insulin sensitivity may lead to changes in cardiac bioenergetics that result in diabetic cardiomyopathy [10]. We have previously shown that a maternal diet that is high in fat, especially in conjunction with maternal diabetes, induces similar lipotoxic effects in the developing offspring’s heart [11,20]. These findings underscore the critical need for research that helps to understand the underlying mechanisms involved in fuel-mediated developmental programming of cardiometabolic disease. Over-nutrition during the prenatal period can induce epigenetic changes to alter chromatin structure and influence lasting metabolic health [16]. Specifically, epigenetic processes are a central underlying mechanism in the developmental origin of type 2 diabetes and CVD [21]. Two major types of epigenetic marks, DNA methylation and posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of histone tails, crosstalk with each other and lead to gene expression changes [22]. In particular, environmentally inducible as well as inheritable PTMs may be involved in both gene activation and repression [14] by changing the chromatin state (open or closed), which directly affects the accessibility of promoter regions for the initiation of transcription [23]. The existence of a cardiac-specific, genome-wide histone signature in offspring exposed prenatally to a maternal HF diet, alone or alongside maternal diabetes, has not been established. To investigate this, we used our rat model [11] to delineate cardiac-specific histone modifications associated with genes involved in cardiometabolic functions. Specifically, we investigated the effect of in utero exposure to a maternal HF diet in conjunction with streptozotocin-induced, late-gestation diabetes on four major histone PTMs in neonatal cardiac tissue. We report genome-wide changes in gene-activation and gene-suppressive histone signatures and identify associated genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that are linked to metabolic functions. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Animal Study and Dietary Intervention Animal work followed the guidelines set forth by the Animal Welfare Act and the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and was under approval from the Sanford Research Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The protocol titled “Cardiovascular effects of late gestation hyperglycemia and high fat diet in offspring of diabetic mothers: Are lipids the culprit?” was approved on 23 September 2014 (93-08-17B). Methods and model characteristics are reported in detail [11,24]. In short, female Sprague-Dawley rats (Harlan Laboratories, Indianapolis, IN, USA) received a control diet (CD) with 18% of calories as fat (TD2018 Teklad; Harlan Laboratories, Madison, WI, USA) or HF diet with 40% of calories as fat (TD95217 custom diet Teklad; Harlan Laboratories) for at least 28 days prior to breeding. Females were bred with normal, CD-fed males. Gestational day 0 was designated by a positive swab for spermatozoa. On gestational day 14, dams received either 0.09 M citrate buffer (CB) placebo or 65 mg/kg of intraperitoneal streptozotocin Nutrients 2017, 9, 407 3 of 21 Nutrients 2017, 9, 407 3 of 20 (STZ) (Sigma Life Sciences, St. Louis, MO, USA) to induce diabetes (Figure1). Thereafter, blood glucose levels(Figure were 1). Thereafter, kept between blood 200–400 glucose mg/dL levels andwere ketones kept between were kept 200–400 to a minimum mg/dL and through ketones monitoring were kept andto a twiceminimum daily through sliding scalemonitoring insulin and administration. twice daily sliding Offspring scale delivered insulin administration. normally on gestational Offspring daydelivered 22. Newborn normally rat on hearts gestationa were collectedl day 22. from Newborn four different rat hearts groups: were controls collected (control fromdiet four and differentcitrate buffergroups: exposed controls or (control CC), diabetes-exposed diet and citrate buffer (control expo dietsed and or CC),STZ diabetes-exposed exposed or CS), diet-exposed (control diet (andhigh STZ fat andexposedcitrate or bufferCS), diet-exposed exposed or HC), (high and fat combination-exposed and citrate buffer exposed (high fator andHC),S TZand exposed combination-exposed or HS). Hearts ◦ were(high snapfat and frozen STZ andexposed stored or atHS).−80 HearCts until were analyses. snap frozen and stored at −80 °C until analyses. Figure 1. Study timeline.timeline. FemaleFemalerats rats were were randomized randomized into into four four groups. groups. Two Two groups groups were were fed fed high high fat dietfat diet (HF) (HF) and twoand controltwo control diet (CD)