Germline genomic and methylomic dynamics following three generations of early-life metabolic challenges

Abstract

Environmental and dietary factors can exert multigenerational effects on health and development. In this study, we investigated whether early-life metabolic challenge affects the germline genome and epigenome across three generations. Using a murine model of early life obesity via litter size reduction (overnutrition group, ON) and a control group (CT), we followed the paternal lineage focusing on germline genomic and methylation changes employing Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) coupled with methyl-immunoprecipitation (GBS-MeDIP). We found that unrelated ON families clustered together based on identified Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP), suggesting that the treatment may have genomic impact. Copy number variations (CNVs) events were identified in ON individuals, being enriched in Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINEs) and Long Terminal Repeats (LTRs). While Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the methylome showed no clear treatment effect, pathway enrichment and regional analyses revealed methylation changes associated with transposable elements and developmental genes. Notably, the ON group exhibited a disruption in the methylation of Repetitive Elements (RE), which was significant in the same type of RE that were also enriched in the observed CNVs. The ON also showed reduced emergence of novel SNPs in offspring compared to the CT group. These findings suggest that multigenerational metabolic challenge can constrain genetic variability and induce genome instability, potentially mediated by transposable element activity rather than widespread changes in DNA methylation. This work highlights the importance of studying both genome and epigenome dynamics under realistic, multigenerational exposure scenarios and suggests that early metabolic challenges can have long-lasting impacts on genomic architecture and evolutionary potential.