Nutritional constraints including not only caloric restriction or protein deficiency, but also energy-dense diets affect metabolic health and frequently lead to obesity and insulin resistance, as well as glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes. The effects of these environmental factors are often mediated via epigenetic modifiers that target the expression of metabolic genes. More recently, it was discovered that such parentally acquired metabolic changes can alter the metabolic health of the filial and grand-filial generations. In mammals, this epigenetic inheritance can either follow an intergenerational or transgenerational mode of inheritance. In the case of intergenerational inheritance, epimutations established in gametes persist through the first round of epigenetic reprogramming occurring during preimplantation development. For transgenerational inheritance, epimutations persist additionally throughout the reprogramming that occurs during germ cell development later in embryogenesis. Differentially expressed transcripts, genomic cytosine methylations, and several chemical modifications of histones are prime candidates for tangible marks which may serve as epimutations in inter- and transgenerational inheritance and which are currently being investigated experimentally. We review, here, the current literature in support of epigenetic inheritance of metabolic traits caused by nutritional constraints and potential mechanisms in man and in rodent model systems.

中文翻译：

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营养及其在肥胖和糖尿病代际遗传中的作用。


营养限制不仅包括热量限制或蛋白质缺乏，而且高能量饮食也会影响代谢健康，并经常导致肥胖和胰岛素抵抗，以及葡萄糖不耐受和 2 型糖尿病。这些环境因素的影响通常是通过针对代谢基因表达的表观遗传修饰剂介导的。最近，人们发现这种父母获得的代谢变化可以改变子代和孙代的代谢健康。在哺乳动物中，这种表观遗传可以遵循代际或跨代遗传模式。在代际遗传的情况下，配子中建立的表观突变在植入前发育过程中发生的第一轮表观遗传重编程中持续存在。对于跨代遗传，表观突变在胚胎发生后期生殖细胞发育过程中发生的重编程过程中持续存在。差异表达的转录本、基因组胞嘧啶甲基化和组蛋白的几种化学修饰是有形标记的主要候选者，这些标记可以作为代间和跨代遗传中的表观突变，目前正在实验中进行研究。我们在此回顾了当前的文献，这些文献支持人类和啮齿动物模型系统中营养限制和潜在机制引起的代谢特征的表观遗传。