Brun Jean-Michel, Bernadet Marie-Dominique, Cornuez Alexis, Leroux Sophie, Bodin Loys, Basso Benjamin, Davail Stéphane, Jaglin Mathilde, Lessire Michel, Martin Xavier, Sellier Nadine, Morisson Mireille, Pitel Frédérique
UMR INRA, Génétique, Physiologie et Systèmes d'Elevage, INRA, 31328, Castanet Tolosan, France.
INPT ENSAT, Génétique, Physiologie et Systèmes d'Elevage, INRA, 31328, Castanet Tolosan, France.
BMC Genet. 2015 Dec 21;16:145. doi: 10.1186/s12863-015-0303-z.
In mammals, multigenerational environmental effects have been documented by either epidemiological studies in human or animal experiments in rodents. Whether such phenomena also occur in birds for more than one generation is still an open question. The objective of this study was to investigate if a methionine deficiency experienced by a mother (G0) could affect her grand-offspring phenotypes (G2 hybrid mule ducks and G2 purebred Muscovy ducks), through their Muscovy sons (G1). Muscovy drakes are used for the production of mule ducks, which are sterile offspring of female common duck (Anas platyrhynchos) and Muscovy drakes (Cairina moschata). In France, mule ducks are bred mainly for the production of "foie gras", which stems from hepatic steatosis under two weeks of force-feeding (FF). Two groups of female Muscovy ducks received either a methionine deficient diet or a control diet. Their sons were mated to Muscovy or to common duck females to produce Muscovy or Mule ducks, respectively. Several traits were measured in the G2 progenies, concerning growth, feed efficiency during FF, body composition after FF, and quality of foie gras and magret.
In the G2 mule duck progeny, grand-maternal methionine deficiency (GMMD) decreased 4, 8, and 12 week body weights but increased weight gain and feed efficiency during FF, and abdominal fat weight. The plasmatic glucose and triglyceride contents at the end of FF were higher in the methionine deficient group. In the G2 purebred Muscovy progeny, GMMD tended to decrease 4 week body weight in both sexes, and decreased weight gain between the ages of 4 and 12 weeks, 12 week body weight, and body weight at the end of FF in male offspring only. GMMD tended to increase liver weight and increased the carcass proportion of liver in both sexes.
Altogether, these results show that the mother's diet is able to affect traits linked to growth and to lipid metabolism in the offspring of her sons, in Muscovy ducks. Whether this transmission through the father of information induced in the grand-mother by the environment is epigenetic remains to be demonstrated.
在哺乳动物中，多代环境效应已通过人类流行病学研究或啮齿动物实验得到证实。这种现象是否也会在鸟类中多代出现仍是一个悬而未决的问题。本研究的目的是调查母亲（G0）经历的蛋氨酸缺乏是否会通过其番鸭儿子（G1）影响其孙代后代的表型（G2杂交骡鸭和G2纯种番鸭）。番鸭公鸭用于生产骡鸭，骡鸭是雌性普通鸭（绿头鸭）和番鸭公鸭（疣鼻栖鸭）的不育后代。在法国，骡鸭主要用于生产“肥肝”，肥肝源于强制喂食（FF）两周内的肝脏脂肪变性。两组雌性番鸭分别接受蛋氨酸缺乏饮食或对照饮食。它们的儿子分别与番鸭或普通鸭母鸭交配，以分别生产番鸭或骡鸭。在G2后代中测量了几个性状，包括生长、FF期间的饲料效率、FF后的身体组成以及肥肝和胸肉的质量。
在G2骡鸭后代中，祖母蛋氨酸缺乏（GMMD）降低了4周、8周和12周时的体重，但增加了FF期间的体重增加和饲料效率以及腹部脂肪重量。蛋氨酸缺乏组在FF结束时的血浆葡萄糖和甘油三酯含量较高。在G2纯种番鸭后代中，GMMD倾向于降低两性4周时的体重，并仅降低雄性后代4至12周龄之间的体重增加、12周时的体重以及FF结束时的体重。GMMD倾向于增加肝脏重量，并增加两性肝脏的胴体比例。
总之，这些结果表明，在番鸭中，母亲的饮食能够影响其儿子后代与生长和脂质代谢相关的性状。这种通过父亲传递祖母环境诱导信息的方式是否为表观遗传还有待证实。
